The Carnation - Fall 2009

Delta Sigma Phi | Fall 2009

letter from the editor

Brothers, It’s almost the end of 2009, a year that saw the unraveling of one of the largest ponzi schemes in the history of the world; the economy going into the tank for a long while, just recently showing signs of life; and two, count ‘em, TWO teams from Pittsburgh winning professional sports championships. (As a native of Ohio and a long-time Cleveland sports fan, please excuse my disgust in that last portion of the sentence…)

But the end of 2009 shouldn’t be all doom and gloom.

Throughout this year, the Fraternity has had a number of very positive things happen. Our recruitment numbers increased again this year, a positive in these tough economic times. We held the largest Convention in ten years during the summer, which you’ll read about more in the coming pages. And, we will be celebrating the 110th anniversary of our great organization in early December. All of these are things of which we can be very proud.

Speaking of the 110th anniversary of our founding, this issue’s Feature story will focus on our organization’s mission, and will provide ways in which you can help us continue to provide a top notch experience to our current undergraduate brothers. We wrote it in the style of James Bond, giving you mini missions that you can do to be better equipped to help us meet our organizational mission of building better men.

Also, this summer at the 2009 Convention, the Fraternity unveiled the All In for Delta Sig Campaign, which is an effort to engage an army of Delta Sig supporters who will volunteer to assist the organization as we strive to

become America’s Leading Fraternity. You can find more information at http://www.deltasig.org/allin. We hope you’ll go All In for Delta Sig and pledge your support online.

Throughout the remainder of the issue, we’re talking to some Delta Sig business leaders, including two who are in top leadership roles on the film and television side of Fox in Los Angeles, and a brother who is the President and CEO of ColorTyme, a chain of rent-to-own stores throughout the US. We also will bring you the latest Books by Brothers, a story on the security of our internet connections, a piece on learning to network effectively, and a first person story on the etiquette of air travel. In addition, we’re unveiling a few fun new sections in this issue called Delta Sig Confidential, By the Numbers, and I Spy Delta Sigma Phi. I’m proud and excited to be able to share this Fall 2009 issue of The Carnation with you, and hope that you enjoy what you read. As always, please feel free to share your thoughts with me on any of the stories or information shared within the pages by e-mailing Hammond@deltasig.org, or calling (317) 634-1899 x425.

Oh, and one more thing… Are you All In for Delta Sig? I certainly am!

YITBOS,

Bruce Hammond Editor

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Letters to the Editor Overall Magazine

specific about excluding anyone who

I wanted to take a moment to com-

wasn’t white and Christian. I hope it

Three Days in the Life of a Chapter

mend you on your last issue of The

is changing.

Many thanks for the wonderful article

Carnation (spring 2009). Your design

Anyway, if the fraternity is doing as

in The Carnation regarding the Miss

is very clean and purposeful, and the

well as The Carnation, things should

Sorority Row Pageant at UGA. It was

articles are relevant and interesting.

go well.

beautifully written and realistic. Your

Your feature, We are Delta Sig, will certainly inspire pride in your members.

article showed a lot of detail and the YITBOS,

hard work put into the Pageant.

I like how the magazine is organized by departments, including Health &

Chuck Graham

Fitness, Government & Politics, etc.

Illinois ’48

You did an excellent job involving your

Sincerely, Lynn Freedman

members as guest writers, which always

Miss Sorority Row Director

adds flavor to the content, and in using

In reference to the about article

various ways to present information

published on page 11 of the Spring

(Q&A, Day in the Life, first person

2009 issue of The Carnation:

demonstrate the wonderful accomplish-

Sigma Phi was founded by Jewish and

Our New President: Bringing Change to Society or a Product of Societal Change

ments of your brothers.

Christian men, BUT this tradition

I suggest you reconsider publishing

Great job on making good on your

didn’t continue. Later, the Jewish

articles discussing political issues. I refer

mission to educate and entertain “other

members left Delta Sigma Phi and

you to pages 20 and 24. Articles of this

readers who may not be members!”

formed their own Fraternity.

type do not conform with your mission.

narratives). The member profiles

It is technically correct that Delta

When I was President of Gamma Interfraternally,

I for one am offended.

Omega Chapter at the University of Houston in 1959, it was my duty to tell

Dick Mills

Mimi McMann

a rushee with friends in our chapter

San Jose State ’56

Editor, Gamma Phi Beta Sorority

that we could not pledge him because he was Jewish.

Feature

Jerry Blaylock

Just a note to say that I think the

Houston ’59

Spring issue of The Carnation is probably the best in the 59 years since I graduated. Congratulations!

I commend you for carrying the articles on GITMO and the Obama election.

I also commend the emphasis on diversity, although I think it’s a bit of

Editor’s Note: While there were certainly dark periods during the Fraternity’s history, the story that we put together in our Spring issue illustrates Delta Sigma Phi is a diverse and inclusive brotherhood across the country.

Editor’s Note: While it’s not always fun to read negative comments about stories that are run in the magazine, we appreciate Dick and others sharing their views of the “Our New President: Bringing Change to Society or a Product of Societal Change” story. We’ll continue bringing you stories that fit within the mission of the magazine, while remembering that we need to be cognizant of all of the divergent views across the brotherhood.

a stretch to call it part of our heritage.

I’m pretty sure the pledge manual when I was in school was pretty

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Contents

CARNATION THE

29 Business & Finance: Opposites Come Together to Lead at Fox

Editor Bruce Hammond, Ohio Northern ’98 Contributing Writers Ry Beck, North Texas ’04 Joe Doyle, Oregon ’03 Juweon Jonathan Kim, Texas ’02 Andy Lammers, Ohio Northern ’07 David Lindemann, Eastern Michigan ’61 Brent Rowe, NC State ’99 KJ Turner, Stephen F. Austin ’83 Matt Yarnell, Western Illinois ’02 Art Director Shelle Design Incorporated

40 A Dream Come True – Mark Neely Alumni Profile

50 In Their Own Words – Juweon Kim

Address publication materials and correspondence with national office to: Delta Sigma Phi 1331 North Delaware Street Indianapolis, IN 46202 (317) 634-1899 FAX: (317) 634-1410 E-mail: info@deltasig.org Web: www.deltasig.org THE CARNATION OF DELTA SIGMA PHI (USPS 091-020), official publication of Delta Sigma Phi, 1331 N. Delaware St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, is published semiannually. Publication postage paid at Indianapolis, IN and additional mailing offices.

Postmaster: Send address changes to THE CARNATION OF DELTA SIGMA PHI, 1331 N. Delaware St., Indianapolis, IN 46202. Subscription price to non-members is $8.00 per year. Single copies $3.00.

Copyright 2009 by the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity; 1331 N. Delaware St., Indianapolis, IN 46202. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner.

DEPARTMENTS 2 3 6 14 16 20 26 32

Letter from the Editor Letters to the Editor News Feed Fraternity Confidential From the Foundation Feature Business & Finance Health & Fitness

36 40 44 48 50 52 54 55

Leadership & Education Sports Tech Trends Travel & Tourism In Their Own Words Books by Brothers Bond Eternal I Spy Delta Sigma Phi

Mission: The Carnation is a lifestyle magazine meant to entertain, educate and inspire the members of Delta Sigma Phi to become better men and lead better lives, while also educating and entertaining other readers who may not be members.

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THE CARNATION® and Delta Sigma Phi® are registered trademarks of Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity, Inc.

On The Cover Illustration for Feature Story: Mission Possible – pg 20.

www.deltasig.org

By the Numbers

63,808

TOTAL MAILABLE ALUMNI IN THE UNITED STATES

Top 10 states in terms of alumni population 10. New Jersey – 1,840 9. Ohio – 2,336 8. Florida – 2,686 7. New York – 2,921 6. North Carolina – 3,200 5. Texas – 3,965 4. Pennsylvania – 4,413 3. Illinois – 4,895 2. Michigan – 5,233 1. California – 8,073 Smallest 5 states in terms of alumni population 46. Wyoming – 87 47. Alaska – 86 48. Maine – 80 49. Vermont – 71 50. North Dakota – 29

Mailable Alumni by Decade 1930s

1%

1940s

4%

1950s

E-mailable Alumni in the United States

2000s

22,887 If you have an e-mail address, but are not currently receiving updates from the Fraternity, please update your membership information by e-mailing Info@deltasig.org with your name, chapter and e-mail address.

11%

10%

1990s

24%

17%

20%

1960s

13% 1970s

1980s

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News Feed Tom Cycyota Appointed to Grand Council Delta Sigma Phi is proud to announce the appointment of Tom Cycyota to the Fraternity’s Grand Council.

Cycyota will fill the remaining two years of immediate past president Mike Hoffman’s term, who was re-elected at the 2007 Delta Sigma Phi Convention.

Cycyota is a 1977 initiate of the Fraternity’s Alpha Alpha Chapter at the University of Illinois, and professionally is the president and CEO of AlloSource, Inc. AlloSource is a mission driven organization that maximizes the possibilities from human tissue donation.

According to Delta Sigma Phi’s national president Chris Edmonds, “We are excited to have someone the caliber of Tom Cycyota join our Grand Council. Tom’s additional board work and his professional accomplishments will be tremendous assets as we continue to work toward becoming America’s Leading Fraternity.”

During his tenure at AlloSource, both Cycyota and the company have been recognized for numerous business accolades, including being a two-time finalist for the Best Companies to Work for in Colorado, Centennial’s Large Company of the Year, a finalist for Colorado Ethics in Business Samaritan Institute Award, the Healthcare Innovator of the Year selected by the Denver Business Journal and more.

Prior to joining AlloSource, Cycyota was the Vice President of Alternate Care Business with Johnson & Johnson Medical (JJM). In this Board-level role, he led the Company’s movement into the alternate healthcare market. He was formerly the Worldwide Director, Marketing, Wound Management for JJM, and also previously worked as Vice President of Marketing and Materials Management with New Dimensions in Medicine. Early in his career, he spent ten years at Kendall Healthcare Products Company.

Cycyota holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Loyola University in Chicago. He sits on the Board of Donate Life America, The Limb Preservation Foundation, and the Donor Awareness Council. He resides in Colorado, where he is an avid hiker and volunteer with the Boy Scouts, with his wife, Cyndy, and three sons, Hank, Tim, and TJ.

Member Assessment Underway We know the Delta Sigma Phi experience can be a powerful personal development experience for our young men. In Delta Sig chapters, our undergraduate men learn invaluable lessons outside the classroom. These lessons include the ability to work in teams, and the chance to gain enhanced creative and critical thinking opportunities, experience democratic processes, learn how to handle interpersonal conflict, and learn about the political and social structures of institutions.

Throughout the last decade, three conversations have arisen that are shaping our future: • Higher education has come under increased scrutiny to better educate college students; • Our work to educate and guide our men in partnership with host institutions has become vitally important; • The relevancy of Delta Sig and all fraternities has been questioned at every turn.

The call has been made in higher education that it is no longer acceptable for institutions to simply grade their performance on the number of diplomas, amount of books in their research libraries, etc. Higher education must be cognizant about what students are truly learning as a RESULT of their collegiate experience… meaning we must measure true learning outcomes of the collegiate experience.

The call has reached the highest levels of higher education this year with a report by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. This leadership organization published their report entitled College Learning for the New

Cycyota

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Global Century. Understanding that colleges and universities are at a crossroads, the report states that there are essential learning outcomes that must be met for our students to be successful in a global environment.

This report directly speaks to the relevance of Delta Sigma Phi and provides our roadmap on how we can stake our claim as the Personal and Leadership Development Fraternity.

Over the last few months, we have done extensive research into the development of college men and college students, from both a fraternity and higher education perspective. Based on this research, Delta Sig has the amazing potential to be the LEADER in true student/member learning, and in preparing our men to be better equipped to be successful in today’s global community.

Delta Sig is poised to begin with the end in mind – What do our men need to demonstrate once they walk across that stage and accept their diploma? There are a very small percentage of higher education institutions that have embraced the call, and there are only a few national fraternities that even have this on their radar.

During this academic year, over half of our undergraduate members will take part in a personal and professional development conversation about their own learning and actions.

They will also take part in an assessment process that will help guide our educational initiatives in the future.

We can be the leaders who can demonstrate and prove the growth of our members to donors, universities, new members, and parents, and the assessment efforts that the Fraternity has undertaken will be what helps us get there.

Fraternity Launches Online Education Series In September, Delta Sig launched its first online education series for chapter and alumni leaders. The online education series includes live online training sessions relating to recruitment, chapter operations, and risk management.

Each of the hour-long online sessions is offered four times on the date they are scheduled to accommodate brothers from the different time zones, and is open to the first 25 brothers who sign up. The format includes approximately 35 minutes of training, and 20 minutes for questions and answers.

The timing of these sessions was coordinated to best suit the different times of the Fall semester. All of the recruitment sessions were held in September during the all important time of recruitment, while the other sessions also coincide with important dates (the “How to Fill Out a Status Report” session is held a week before the Chapter Status Report is due.)

According to Assistant Executive Director Paul Lawson, “We developed these online education sessions as a way for undergraduates and alumni to be able to get the education they need on certain topics in an easy to digest way. In addition, by providing them online, we are trying to be more cognizant of utilizing technology as we work with our young brothers.”

The fall online education series runs until midNovember, and will likely be repeated next Fall to prepare undergraduates and alumni for the academic year.

A Plethora of Member Benefits Available to Delta Sigs Over the years, the Fraternity has offered a number of opportunities for brothers to benefit from their membership.

Whether these opportunities are in the form of networking or supporting our undergraduate chapters and colonies, undergraduates and alumni have been given opportunities to benefit from their experiences.

Now, the Fraternity has developed a number of new ways in which brothers can benefit from their membership in the Fraternity in the form of saving money.

Delta Sigma Phi has developed relationships with a number of companies who offer discounts on their products and services just because you are members of our organization.

Read more below about each of these opportunities, and you can also find out more by going to the Fraternity’s web site at http://www.deltasig.org/connect/chapter_resources.

Bank of America Affinity Credit Card Most everyone has a credit card in their wallet, and Delta Sig has made it easy for you to support the Fraternity while you’re making your purchases.

The Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity Platinum Plus® MasterCard® Credit Card with WorldPoints® Rewards provides you an opportunity to earn points with all of your purchases, and support the Fraternity at the same time.

Each purchase made with your card earns royalties for the Fraternity that are then used to ensure Delta Sigma Phi continues to provide a top notch experience to our members.

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News Feed Brooks Brothers Discount Card As another member benefit, the Fraternity has worked with Brooks Brothers to provide Delta Sis an opportunity to get a discount card good for 15% off regular priced merchandise in Brooks Brothers and Brooks Brothers Outlet stores across the country. In addition, as an enrolled corporate member you will be notified of our special Corporate Shopping event weekends for additional savings when you shop Brooks Brothers.

It’s a great deal for top notch men’s clothing, and you can take advantage of it just by being a Delta Sig. Learn more about the program online in the Chapter Resources section of the Fraternity’s web site (www.deltasig.org). Join the 2,500 other Delta Sigs who have already been taking advantage of the program!

GEICO Auto Insurance The newest of the Fraternity’s member benefits is with GEICO, which offers members the potential to save up to 15% off on your car insurance.

While you may already have a great deal on your insurance, each inquiry to the company nets the Fraternity royalties that are then used to ensure Delta Sigma Phi continues to provide a top notch experience to our members.

So, why not inquire about whether you’re getting the best deal today, and help the Fraternity in the process?

Brooks joined the Missouri journalism faculty in 1974 after working in Vietnam as an information officer, for which he earned a bronze star, and as a reporter, copy editor and night city editor at the Press-Scimitar in Memphis. He served as news editor and then editor of the Columbia Missourian before becoming director of the journalism network in 1989.

While on sabbatical from 1997 to 1999, Brooks was editor of The Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military newspaper in Europe. He directed that newspaper’s coverage of the Bosnia mission, the U.S. entry into Kosovo and the bombing of Belgrade. For this work he received the U.S. Department of Defense Civilian Distinguished Service Medal.

For more than 30 years Brooks has served as deputy director or director of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund editing internship program at Missouri. Students from schools nationwide are trained at the summer workshop for careers as newspaper copy editors.

Brooks is the author or co-author of four major journalism textbooks, including News Reporting and Writing. He was chairman of the school’s editorial department from 1999 to 2003, when he became associate dean for undergraduate studies and administration. That same year he was named Outstanding Faculty member on campus by the MU Greek system. In 2001, he received the Mizzou Alumni Association’s Faculty-Alumni Award.

He is a past recipient of the Fraternity’s Outstanding Undergraduate Award, the Francis P. Wacker Interfraternal Award, the Harvey H. Hebert Award, and the Mr. Delta Sig Award. In addition, he served on the Grand Council for a number of years, as the Fraternity’s national president from 1987-1991, and as the editor of The Carnation.

Delta Sig Alumnus Inducted into the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame Past national president, Brian Brooks, Missouri ’64, was inducted into the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame in October. Brooks serves as the University of Missouri’s Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies in its acclaimed School of Journalism.

About his induction, he said, “It’s really flattering to be inducted into any hall of fame. To be inducted into a Hall of Fame that includes people like Mark Twain and Joseph Pulitzer is really special.”

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BROTHERHOOD IN THE GATEWAY CITY

CONVENTION RECAP Held at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, the 2009 Delta Sigma Phi Convention brought together more than 400 undergraduates, alumni, and guests to celebrate the Fraternity. In the coming pages, you’ll read about what took place over the four days in late July, and meet the Fraternity’s new national president.

Brotherhood and Fun One of the most exciting parts of any Convention is the opportunity for brothers to interact with one another and have fun. That occurred at the 2009 Convention beginning with the first event – the Welcome Reception.

The event allowed brothers to meet, interact, listen to live music from a two-piece band, and participate in the performance of an improv comedy troupe called Mission IMPROVable. Brothers took part in the performance, providing suggestions for skits, and even getting on stage to participate in the skits themselves. The event was an excellent way to kick off the Convention.

Throughout the remainder of the 2009 event, brothers took part in additional events meant to provide a fun experience to attendees. The first ever Vegas Night on the Nile, an event with casino style games and snacks, allowed brothers the chance to mix and mingle while playing their favorite card games. The regular Pilgrim’s Degree, the Convention-only

Clayton Spiceland is presented with the E. Allen James Outstanding Undergraduate Award by past national president John Boma.

event where brothers learn the secret of the Convention hat – the Fez, also took place for first-time attendees. All first-time Convention attendees took part in the event, which as usual, was well received by the brothers who took part.

Networking From the alumni and undergraduate appreciation receptions, to the formal Networking Breakfast, opportunities for networking were clearly an important part of the 2009 Convention.

The 2009 Alumni Appreciation Reception included wine provided

by Justin Vineyards and Winery, owned and operated by alumnus Justin Baldwin, San Jose State ’67. Brother Baldwin attended the event from California to talk a little about his Fraternity experience, as well as talk about the wines he generously donated.

As for the 2009 Undergraduate Appreciation Reception, brothers enjoyed foods and snacks that are famous in St. Louis, while networking and hearing from Executive Director Scott Wiley. In addition, a representative from The St. Louis Chapter of The American Red Cross talked to attendees about the Red Cross’ work, and its importance.

The last of the formal networking opportunities was the Networking Breakfast, which paired successful alumni at tables with undergraduates who were interested in entering similar career fields. With 25 tables from which undergraduates could choose, there were alumni to talk to in nearly every general career field out there.

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Attendees of the Convention pose for the official group photo in Keiner Plaza, located in the shadow of the world famous Gateway Arch.

Education Opportunities for networking and fun make for an excellent Convention by themselves, but throw in the tremendous number of educational sessions meant to help our brothers be better leaders in their chapters and in their volunteer roles, and you have a great recipe for a tremendous event.

Over the course of four days, there were twelve educational sessions geared toward helping attendees become better men. Ranging from sessions on Becoming a Pyramid of Excellence Chapter, to learning how to conduct a successful job search,

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there was education for everyone at the event.

One of the highlights of the educational portion of the Convention was past national president Loren Mall’s History of the Ritual session. Mall’s session, which is a Convention staple, drew over 300 members on night #2 of the Convention, and was one of the highest rated education sessions on the post-event survey with 91% of respondents rating it at the highest possible score.

The 2009 Convention provided a great deal of education, but that was not all. There was still more!

Business Another regular part of the Convention is the business that is conducted. The In Convention Assembled sessions are opportunities for brothers from across the country to vote on the leadership of the Fraternity, changes to the Fraternity’s governing documents, and overall an place for the business of the organization to take place.

This year, four members were elected to the Grand Council, two of whom were newly elected, one was reelected, and one was elected after serving an appointed one year term.

Griffin Cole and Adeel Khan, undergraduate members of the Kappa Delta Chapter at Virginia Tech, pose with the chapter’s Pyramid of Excellence Award following the Closing Banquet.

The two newly elected members are Jim Knoll, San Jose State '83, who will serve as a Director, and Caleb Williams, Georgia '06, who will serve as the second undergraduate member along with Tom Seto.

The member re-elected to the Grand Council is Tom Archer, Virginia ’87, who will serve as the Secretary/Treasurer. Jim Larson, Cal Poly SLO ’72, who will serve as a Director, was elected after serving a one year appointment leading up to the Convention.

After the elections took place, Chris Edmonds, UAB ’88, was chosen by the Grand Council members to serve as their new President. Read more about Brother Edmonds in the coming pages.

In addition to the Grand Council elections, a change to the Constitution of the Fraternity was approved by the Convention body.

Before the Convention, a second undergraduate member was appointed to the Grand Council in the off Convention years by the current members of the Grand Council.

Following a number of Constitution Committee meetings and a floor debate, that has been changed so that starting in 2010, the second undergraduate member of the Grand Council will now be elected by delegates across the country voting electronically who will be certified just as they are for the Convention.

Recognition A Convention would not be complete without all of the recognition that takes place – recognition of brothers and chapters for continuing to make Delta Sigma Phi what it is today.

There were a number of awards presented, but only two were the top individual awards.

The 2009 E. Allen James Outstanding Undergraduate Award was presented to Clayton Spiceland, Kentucky ’05. Spiceland served as the InterGreek Programming Assembly president on campus, leading the Greek community to give $250,000 and 39,000 hours of community service during his time in the position.

He is also a three year attendee of the

UK Leadership Summit, which is reserved for the campus’ top 75 student leaders.

The 2009 Mr. Delta Sig Award, the top award an alumnus can receive, was presented to Bruce Loewenberg, Missouri ’58. Loewenberg is a twoterm Grand Council member, a longtime Foundation Board member, and a tireless advocate for Delta Sigma Phi at his home chapter at the University of Missouri, having served on the ACB for many years. He also is a 2008 University of Missouri Citation of Merit winner, a prestigious recognition by his alma mater.

You can find all of the chapter awards, as well as each and every individual award recipient on the Fraternity’s web site at www.deltasig.org/convention2009.

Overall, the 2009 Convention was an event that was well received by all those who attended, and with the momentum coming out of the event, Delta Sigma Phi is poised for big things in 2009-10.

New Grand Council Following 2009 Convention President – Chris Edmonds, UAB ’88 Vice President – Scott Kimpel, Texas ’93 Secretary/Treasurer – Tom Archer, Virginia ’87 Director – Tom Cycyota, Illinois ’77 Director – Jim Knoll, San Jose State ’83 Director – Jim Larson, Cal Poly SLO ’72 Director – Tom Seto, Purdue ’05 Director – Caleb Williams, Georgia ’06 Past President – Mike Hoffman, Arizona State ’85

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MEET THE NEW NATIONAL

PRESIDENT CHRIS EDMONDS, UAB ’88

New national president Chris Edmonds (right) presents the 2009 Pyramid of Excellence Award to Josh Hawthorne, president of the Alpha Alpha Chapter at the University of Illinois.

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Chris Edmonds, UAB ’88, was installed as Delta Sigma Phi’s 30th national president at the 2009 Convention. Edmonds, who is only 40 years old, has been in volunteer positions within the Fraternity since his graduation in 1992. Prior to his election, he served as a member of the Grand Council since 2005, most recently as its vice president.

Prior to his election to the board in 2005, he served as Chair of the Fraternity’s Long Range Planning Task Force, Recruitment and Expansion Commissioner, and District Governor. As an undergraduate member, he served as Chapter and IFC President.

The Carnation caught up with Edmonds after his installation to learn more about his Delta Sig experience and his goals for his term as the organization’s leader.

The Carnation: What does Delta Sigma Phi mean to you?

Edmonds: Simply put, Delta Sigma Phi is my foundation. The values for which our Fraternity stands challenge me daily to be a better husband, father, employee, team member, volunteer and human. It has, and continues to, provide me with a tangible roadmap for living my life.

The Carnation: Why did you join Delta Sig originally and why have you remained involved since your graduation in the early 1990s?

Edmonds: I attended the orientation at UAB with all of the wrong expectations. I was introduced to the Zeta Chi Chapter of Delta Sigma Phi by one of my best friends in the world from high school. She said, “I know you don’t think you will be Greek, but these guys are different.” WOW, was she ever right! I was hooked from the first contact.

Zeta Chi was a young (3 year old) chapter at the time. Once my under-

graduate days ended, my involvement was all about “Paying the Debt.” Each time we held an initiation, I would learn a little more about the responsibility each member has. I continued to build upon these revelations and decided living the Ritual never put me at odds with the community, family, work, or religion. It became clear to me that the more you put into the Fraternity, the more it gave back. It has been this great circle of investments and returns that is insatiable.

Footnote: Tina Patterson Vermillion, Alpha Gamma Delta member, was the point of introduction. She married a Delta Sig from Kappa Chapter – Rob Vermillion.

The Carnation: What did it mean to you to be elected to serve as the organization’s 30th national president?

Edmonds: This is yet another humbling challenge to serve as the National President. Having been involved as an alumni volunteer for more than 20 years, I have had the opportunity to meet a significant number of the Past Presidents. There are no greater examples of all that is good in mankind than these men.

They have accomplished so much in their tenures. To be asked to serve in this same capacity is humbling and overwhelming at the same time. I never expected joining the organization some 20-plus years ago would put me in such a position, but the fact that it has is an example of what membership means. Delta Sigma Phi offers the greatest internship in leadership available, and I am living proof of its results.

The Carnation: What are your overarching goals and vision for your term as national president?

Edmonds: In the last four years, we have created a new foundation of expectations. Through our Strategic Plan, we have begun elevating what it

means to be a Delta Sig. We have intentionally focused our efforts to convince the world of the sincerity of our purpose. Continuing to execute this strategy will take all we have in the coming years.

We need to build a bridge between the foundation of expectations and the 2025 goal of being America’s Leading Fraternity. Building this bridge, developing a national housing strategy, and continuing the proud traditions of the last 110 years, will keep this Grand Council plenty busy over the next two years.

The Carnation: What's the best piece of advice you've ever received that you can share with our brothers?

Edmonds: Live the Ritual – it will never let you down! If you live it, it will give you far more back than you can ever give it. I believe this must be why our brilliant founding fathers defined Paying the Debt the way they did. Add the Pearl of Great Price to Paying the Debt and the result is a great life!

Chris Edmonds, 40, serves as the President and CEO of the International Derivatives Clearing Group, which is located in New York City. He resides with his wife, Michelle, and children, Blake and Jenna, in Louisville, KY.

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Fraternity Confidential

The Making of a Pyramid of

EXCELLENCE Chapter Each year, the Fraternity awards the Pyramid of Excellence to five – seven top chapters across the country. Have you ever wondered what makes a Pyramid of Excellence chapter, and how your group can become one?

At the 2009 Convention, Assistant Executive Director Paul Lawson and Regional Director Kyle Libra presented a session entitled “Becoming a Pyramid Chapter.” In it, they talked about a number of specific things that chapters and colonies can do to become one of the Fraternity’s best. We have compiled a list of their tips below:

1. Document What You Are Doing Many times, recognition is about knowing what chapters and colonies are doing in the first place. If the information isn’t readily available and documented effectively when it comes time for accreditations to be sent into the Fraternity Headquarters, the people judging the reports and deciding who are the top chapters do not have all of the necessary information.

Because of this, there may be chapters and colonies who are deserving of recognition, but because of a lack of documentation, they are not recognized appropriately.

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2. Get Your Alumni Involved Of the 2009 Pyramid of Excellence winners, all of the chapters had a group of alumni who are available and ready to assist when called upon.

Alumni involvement is key to having a top notch chapter, not only because of the inherent networking opportunities that it provides, but also because alumni are there to assist with chapter planning, recruitment, and holding brothers accountable.

Utilize these brothers regularly, and you too can become a Pyramid of Excellence chapter.

3. Create a Culture of Consistent Excellence In most cases, Pyramid of Excellence chapters don’t just come out of the blue to win the award. The steadily and effectively build a culture in which achievement is celebrated, leadership is embraced, and failure is not an option. Having this culture likely can’t be developed overnight, but it is something that all of the top award winners have in common.

Begin working to instill this culture in your chapter, and you will be on the right track to win the big award.

4. Keep Your Juniors and Seniors Involved The 2009 Pyramid of Excellence chapters all have a strong desire to keep their older members involved.

Many times, juniors and seniors in struggling chapters check out, and feel as though they have accomplished everything in their first and second years. The mindset of “we’ve done our part, now it’s up to you” is prevalent.

However, many times, they have

valuable institutional knowledge and leadership experience to make a chapter better. A key to becoming a top chapter is to find ways in which you can keep your juniors and seniors involved and engaged in the success of the organization.

5. Use the Accreditation Document as a Goal Setting Tool The Accreditation document is how the Pyramid of Excellence Awards are determined, so by utilizing that document as your roadmap for planning and goal setting, you are likely to meet many of the criteria included within it. The next chapter planning retreat you hold, be sure to have a copy of the accreditation document as your guide to the chapter plan for the coming year. By doing this, you’ll be setting yourself up for success.

One other important thing to mention is that only chapters who have no risk management violations, have a zero balance due to the Fraternity Headquarters, and are excelling in academics are eligible to win the Pyramid of Excellence.

So, it’s incredibly important to meet those basic requirements in order to be considered one of the Fraternity’s best.

Are you ready to become a Pyramid of Excellence chapter? These tips are a good start to helping you understand what it takes. Now, it’s up to you to develop your plans, begin making change, and reaching out to those who can help you achieve the Fraternity’s top award!

DELTA SIG Fact or Fiction Are the following statements about Delta Sigma Phi fact or fiction?

Answers may be found on page 54, on the same page as the list of Bond Eternal brothers.

1. Mike D from the Beastie Boys is a Delta Sig. 2. The Fraternity has never had a Governor as a member.

3. Delta Sig alumnus Horatio Fitch, Illinois ’22, won a silver medal in the 400 meter dash at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, and was a one-time world record holder in the event.

4. Delta Sigma Phi once had a chapter in Hawaii.

5. The Delta Sigma Phi Headquarters is haunted by past inhabitant Lucy Taggart.

6. Two current members of the United States House of Representatives are members of Delta Sigma Phi. 7. Although it has a later designation, the Alpha Tau Chapter at Albion College was installed before the Alpha Alpha Chapter at the University of Illinois.

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Foundation

BUILDING B M ETTER

EN

CAMPAIGN WRAP-UP The Delta Sigma Phi Foundation launched the silent phase of the Building Better Men Campaign in July 2005. The public launch occurred at the 2007 Convention with a goal to raise $10 million in cash, pledges and estate planned gifts. The purpose of the campaign was to enable increased annual Fraternity and chapter grants that would be used for leadership training and academic scholarships.

Brothers across the nation enthusiastically supported the idea of investing in the future of our brotherhood. By the close of the campaign on June 30, 2009, Delta Sigma Phi members had committed a total of $13,250,000 in outright gifts, pledges, and planned gifts that will be realized in later years. Despite current economic challenges, as of fiscal year 2009, the assets of the Foundation grew to $7.7 million.

The mission we set out to accomplish – in part through the campaign – was clarified by four specific goals: to make Delta Sigma Phi the number one NIC fraternity in leadership training participation; to put us in the Top 5 of NIC fraternities in both chapter size and academic performance; and finally, to engage more than 2,500 active alumni volunteers, a three-fold increase over previous levels.

Since the beginning of the campaign, Foundation staff members personally visited 2,500 alumni to share the vision and encourage their support. More than 900 alumni committed to a multi-year pledge, and the 1899 Society (alumni making a $5,000 commitment or more) grew to 360 members, 58 of whom donated or pledged more than $10,000 toward the effort. As a result, Foundation grants in the last five years topped the million dollar mark at $1,110,702.

Alumni who joined the Fraternity in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s make up the largest group of major campaign donors. Seventy-seven percent were initiated during those decades – a time when the Fraternity’s greatest increase in services and programs was occurring 16

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Just Who IS the 1899 Society?

2000s

1940s

3%

1%

1950s

7%

1960s

1990s 22% general & administrative

16%

28% 19% chapter & colony services

20% risk management & insurance

15%

19% education

1970s

30% 1980s

In the past three decades Delta Sigma Phi’s educational programs have grown exponentially with an 875% increase in the number of men participating just in the last decade.

National Programs Funded by the Delta Sigma Phi Foundation: The Leadership Institute – capstone leadership experience for upperclassmen focused on leading change and career preparation Regional Leadership Academies – one-day chapter officer training held regionally

Brotherhood Retreats – teaching our newest members about brotherhood The Summit – recruitment training for Presidents and Recruitment Chairmen UIFI – North American Interfraternity Conference Greek leadership institute Chapter Grants Funded by the Delta Sigma Phi Foundation: Individual Scholarships Housing Scholarships Improvements to educational areas of the chapter house Leadership programs

Since the start of the campaign: • Undergraduate participation in leadership training has increased by 167% since the start of the Building Better Men Campaign and reached nearly 1300 undergraduate men this past year.

• Fraternity educational programming received 7.5% more Foundation funding last year while total funding support to the Fraternity, its chapters and undergraduate members increased by 13% during the 2008-09 academic year.

• Membership is up – with the expectation to serve 4,500 undergraduate Delta Sigs this semester.

These four goals have become signposts of progress related to Delta Sigma Phi’s Vision 2025 – the Fraternity’s long-term strategic plan for Becoming America’s Leading Fraternity.

Every brother plays an integral role in Delta Sigma Phi’s Vision 2025. We truly are building better men, and our alumni are responding with a vote of confidence in our efforts and a desire to be part of this exciting new era of Delta Sigma Phi.

The first significant planned gift of the campaign was from Grand Council member Bruce Loewenberg, Missouri ’58, who helped kick off the public campaign announcement in January 2007 with a $2 million bequest—the largest, at the time, in Foundation history. Loewenberg’s gift is designated for the Beta Beta 21st Century Fund, held by the Delta Sigma Phi Foundation, and intended to be used for future housing opportunities and scholarships for members of Beta Beta Chapter at the University of Missouri.

Mid-way through 2007, the Foundation was notified of yet another planned gift from the estate of Hensel McKee, Washington ’30, and his wife Jeanette, who are now both deceased.

The McKees both named the Delta Sigma Phi Foundation in their wills.

He was an annual contributor to the Foundation for at least 22 years, worked as an adjudicator for the U.S. government and served in the U.S. Coast Guard. When Hensel passed away in 1991, his assets reverted to his wife’s estate; and after her passing in 2006, the Foundation received word of the bequests. The gift of $4,327,000 is the largest planned gift in Foundation history, and is designated to be used for academic scholarships, the first of which were awarded this fall.

Although the Foundation was unaware of the McKees’ bequest during their lifetimes, their generosity will be transformational for Delta Sigma Phi. In conjunction with the annual gifts, major gifts and other planned gifts from our living brothers who still have the opportunity to witness the effect of their contributions, the McKee gift will play a significant role in bettering the Fraternity and Building Better Men.

Planned Giving Update The Building Better Men campaign goals were established with the intention to secure cash gifts for today and planned gifts that would serve Delta Sigma Phi long into the future.

The campaign generated $4.57 million in cash and pledges through the annual fund, gifts to the 1899 Society and major gifts. The Foundation’s planned giving activities exceeded the campaign’s initial goal, with $8.68 million in matured or estate planned gifts.

Supporting today’s initiatives, Providing for tomorrow’s needs, Investing in the future.

That’s Brotherhood.

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Foundation First McKee Scholarships Awarded in 2009 The McKee Scholarships are provided through the generosity of Hensel and Jeanette McKee to further their desire to assist young men in pursing undergraduate and post graduate studies. Brother McKee was initiated into the Alpha Omega chapter at the University of Washington in 1930.

For the 2009-2010 academic year, the Foundation decided to award up to $5,000 per individual scholarship, available to eligible brothers pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees (and holding a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale).

More than seventy (70) young men applied for the scholarships, forty three (43) of whom were undergraduates and twenty seven (27) were graduate students. Eight recipients were selected and formally announced at the Convention’s Closing Banquet on July 25, 2009.

Undergraduate Students

Donnie Hampton, a junior at Kansas State University, carries a 4.0 GPA. Hampton has served on several councils and committees including the Diversity Programming Committee, the Union Program Council, and the Chimes Junior Service Honorary on which he served as president. He assisted his chapter in establishing two philanthropic events that raised more than $2,000 collectively. Donnie was awarded a $2,000 McKee Scholarship.

Hunter Talcott, a senior at Stetson University, carries a 3.8 GPA. He has received numerous awards including the 2009 Management Major of the Year and Management’s Most Valuable Student. Talcott is a member of the National Honor Society, and serves as President of the Alpha Chi Chapter at Stetson University. He was awarded a $2,000 McKee Scholarship.

Joshua Schwartz, a senior at Transylvania University, carries a 3.8 GPA. Schwartz has served on numerous committees, including the Transylvania University Student Government Association, the Interfraternal Council, and as a student representative on the faculty committee on Program and Curriculum. He is currently preparing a manuscript for publication in the Journal of Chemical Education.

Joshua was awarded a $3,000 McKee Scholarship.

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Danual Laan, a junior at the University of AlabamaBirmingham, carries a 3.9 GPA. Laan currently serves on the Inquiro Editorial Board and was selected to serve on the Pearson Student Advisory Board. He is a member of many honor societies including University Honors Program and Alpha Epsilon Delta. Laan was awarded a $3,000 McKee Scholarship.

Weston Fillman, a junior at Franklin and Marshall College, carries a 3.4 GPA. One of the founding members of Franklin and Marshall’s student government, Fillman served as Secretary of the Executive Board. He has earned academic awards, including the Presidential Scholar and the Dana Scholar. He has also been selected for membership in the John Marshall Pre-Law Honor Society. Fillman was awarded a $2,000 McKee Scholarship.

Graduate Students

M. Anthony Zanni, Jr., a first-year student at the University of Louisville’s School of Medicine, carries a 3.8 GPA. Zanni serves as president of the Omicron Delta Kappa society and has served as vice president of finance for the Phi Delta Epsilon Society. He also served as a co-coordinator on the TransyLEAD program. Zannie was awarded a $2,500 McKee Scholarship.

AmeriCorps Service Achievement for 900+ hours of service with the Boys and Girls Club of Albany. Wester was the first elected President and founding father of Beta Epsilon Colony at Oregon State University. He was awarded a $3,000 McKee Scholarship.

Tyler Williams, a second-year student at Cornell University pursuing a dual degree, carries 4.07 GPA. He is a member of Order of Omega, Golden Key International Honorary Society, and the Beta Gamma Sigma Honorary Society and received the honor of being selected as a Presidential Scholar. Williams is a founding member of the Theta Chi Chapter at the University of Georgia where he served as seargent at arms and president. He was awarded a $2,500 McKee Scholarship.

Congratulations to these worthy recipients. The 2010-2011 McKee Scholarship application will be available on the Fraternity’s web site in spring 2010.

Jacob Wester, a first-year student at Oregon Health and Science University, carries a 4.0 GPA. He has received awards and recognition for his academic accomplishments, including the Waldo-Cummings Outstanding Senior Student, the Drucilla Shepard Smith Award, and the

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YOUR M should you choose to accept it – help

TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR MISSION, YOU, OUR DELTA SIG AGENTS, ARE BEING ASKED TO COMPLETE FIVE MINI-MISSIONS THAT WILL HELP THE ORGANIZATION ACCOMPLISH ITS GOALS. Mini-Mission #1 – Live the Ritual and Set the Example As alumni and undergraduates, it’s important for all Delta Sigs to live the Ritual on a daily basis. Our Ritual is an embodiment of what we are as a Fraternity, and the best way to show the world what we are as an organization is by embodying the Ritual in everything we do, everyday.

The best piece of advice that new national president Chris Edmonds received was to live the Ritual.

According to Edmonds, “It (the Ritual) will never let you down! If you live it, it will give you far more back than you can ever give it. I believe this must be why our brilliant founding fathers defined Paying the Debt the way they did. Add the Pearl of Great Price to Paying the Debt and the result is a great life!”

One of the very easy aspects of living the Ritual is being balanced.

The Ritual talks a great deal about

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balance, thus the equilateral triangle in our mystic symbol and on our badge of membership. By being balanced in your life, you are able to set a great example for not only your friends and family, but also the younger brothers who are looking up to you.

As alumni specifically, setting the tone and the example for today’s undergraduates is extremely important. If undergraduates see you coming back to the chapter house and hazing the new members, that’s exactly what they’re going to do. If they think it’s ok to be disrespectful to others, they will do the same thing.

As alumni, you have a great responsibility to understand how your actions shape the experiences and lives of the young men who are current undergraduates. Setting an example about how to act and how to become successful is extremely important for Delta Sigma Phi to continue to build better men.

If you live the Ritual and set a good example for today’s undergraduates, congratulations. You have accomplished mini-mission #1.

Please move on to mini-mission #2 – becoming educated about today’s Delta Sigma Phi.

Mini-Mission #2 – Become Educated about Today’s Delta Sigma Phi Today’s Delta Sigma Phi is very different from twenty, ten, or even five years ago. Twenty years ago, risk management was in the early stages of discussion, and the Leadership Institute, which has since graduated over 800 brothers, hadn’t even been thought about. Ten years ago, there was a great deal of talk about the impending alcohol-free housing initiative, which really has become a less and less divisive issue since its inception in the early 2000s. Five years ago, the organization had just

MISSION

Delta Sigma Phi BUILD BETTER MEN. reinstated its regional education events, now called the Regional Leadership Academies, which have become an integral part in educating our members.

Overall, the organization and today’s undergraduate members are different. The experience of today’s undergraduates is shaped by the use of technology, developing relationships virtually that grow into personal relationships, almost excessive information sharing, and a need for knowledge and support right here, right now.

The Fraternity has ventured into the social media world to help our younger undergraduates get what they need in a timely manner. Delta Sig has introduced an online education series for chapter and alumni leaders, which is helping undergraduate members become more educated about their chapters and positions virtually.

Information is being shared on the Fraternity’s web site often, and continued efforts are being made to help our undergraduate members and young alumni as they are preparing for life after graduation.

Today, young Delta Sigs and the Fraternity as a whole, are more concerned with high scholastic achievement, recruitment perform-

ance, and becoming campus & community leaders. In fact, the Fraternity-wide GPA is above 2.8, and our recruitment numbers continue to rise even with a difficult economic climate and rising costs of college for our members.

Our new Grand Council is focused on excellence and becoming America’s Leading Fraternity, while also re-engaging alumni to support our mission. It’s a great time to be a Delta Sig, and even though today’s Fraternity may not be exactly like it was when you joined, you have valuable experience and expertise that you can share to help us get to where we need to be, and to help us meet our overall mission of building better men.

You now know more about today’s Delta Sigma Phi. You can also check out the web site to learn more at www.deltasig.org. Move on to mini-mission #3 to gain a better understanding of where the Fraternity is going in the future.

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Mini-Mission #3 – Understand Where Delta Sigma Phi is Going in the Future In 2005, the Fraternity, under the leadership of national president, Mike Hoffman, undertook an aggressive strategic planning process, which spearheaded by then vice president Chris Edmonds. This process led to a document being produced that included all of its findings. To help us meet our mission of building better men, it’s vitally important for you, our agents, to have an understanding of the Fraternity’s future goals.

Within the strategic plan were three overarching initiatives to guide the plan – building strong leaders, building stronger chapters, and being the strongest fraternity. Each of these included metrics to be accomplished in two phases: Phase I by 2007 and Phase II by 2010. All of the metrics that were due in Phase I were completed successfully, and many of those that are coming due in Phase II are moving forward toward completion. All of the information on each initiative and metric can be found online at www.deltasig.org/ourstrategy.

In addition to these short-term initiatives and metrics, the committee developed long-term goals called, “Vision 2025: What Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity will Become.” These seven long-term goals are important to understand, as everything that the Fraternity is doing today and in the coming years will help us achieve them. While they are audacious goals aimed at making Delta Sig America’s Leading Fraternity, with the right efforts and support from brothers, they are achievable. They are:

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• Have 200 active chapters and colonies (as of September 1, 2009, Delta Sigma Phi has just over 100) • Have 10,000 active undergraduate members (as of September 1, 2009, Delta Sigma Phi has approximately 4,500) • Have 2,500 trained and engaged alumni volunteers (as of September 1, 2009, Delta Sigma Phi has just over 750) • Be #1 amongst North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) fraternities in terms of undergraduates receiving leadership training (in 2008-09, the Fraternity had over 1,000 undergraduates receiving fraternity-sponsored leadership training) • Be amongst the Top 5 in the NIC in terms of chapter academic excellence (in the most recent statistics released, Delta Sigma Phi was in the top 15) • Be amongst the Top 5 in the NIC in terms of average chapter size (in the most recent statistics released, Delta Sigma Phi was in the top 10) • Be the largest service organizer, providing 250,000 hours annually to The American Red Cross With all of these audacious goals, the Fraternity needs your help!

Actually, Delta Sig needs your help, as well as the help of many other alumni, to accomplish our overall mission and to meet our Vision 2025 metrics.

You understand where the Fraternity is going in the future, checking off mini-mission #3. Now it’s time to accomplish mini-mission #4 – stepping up and going All In for Delta Sig to help us meet our overall mission.

Mini-Mission #4 – Step Up and Go All In for Delta Sigma Phi Now that you have accomplished the first three mini-missions, you have gone most of the way to helping the Fraternity accomplish its overall mission of building better men. So, why stop now? Now is the time to step up and get involved to help steer the organization in the right direction, and to help lead Delta Sigma Phi to become America’s Leading Fraternity.

You may be asking yourself “how can I make a difference?” or saying “but I don’t have the time to devote to this right now…” The fact is that there are many ways to help the Fraternity with its mission, and the first is identifying yourself as someone who WANTS to help.

Once that happens, you can be placed into a role that best fits within your determined amount of available time. There are ways to become involved that take very little time, and ways that take up more time and require more of a commitment.

The best way to show you’re interested in helping the Fraternity meet our overall mission is to show your support of the Fraternity’s All In for Delta Sig movement, a campaign that was launched in late August to engage members and non-members in what is going on with the Fraternity.

By checking out the web site at www.deltasig.org/allin, you will be able to decide in which of the three areas you can best contribute to meeting our overall mission – Developing Stronger Leaders, Building Stronger Chapters, or Building America’s Leading Fraternity.

Each of the three areas show examples of ways alumni can become involved in helping the organization – some of which are long-term and some of which are shorter term.

Going All In is an important step in helping the Fraternity identify alumni who are willing to step up and assist, and by showing your willingness to do so, you will be assisting the Fraternity tremendously as we look to identify the next wave of volunteer leaders of the Fraternity. The first step is showing your willingness to be involved by signing up to go All In. We hope you’ll do so, and then finish

up your mini-missions by helping the Fraternity identify others who would be interested in helping us move forward – our final mini-mission.

Mini-Mission #5 – Re-Engage Another Delta Sig to Accomplish Our Mission As each of us was joining Delta Sigma Phi, we learned about Paying the Debt. One part of Paying the Debt was bringing in a man better than yourself to Delta Sigma Phi. In some cases, this happened when you were an undergraduate – you helped recruit brothers into your chapter who became leaders, moved the Fraternity forward, and were quality brothers.

If that wasn’t your experience when you were an undergraduate, now is your chance to bring a man better than yourself back into the fold!

As we think about Building Better Men, Delta Sigma Phi needs a wide variety of brothers who are willing to step up and push our mission forward.

Without this large group of vocal and committed alumni leaders, Building Better Men will just be something we say we do, as opposed to something we actually do.

We need the help of all of our brothers who understand the importance the Fraternity has had in their lives, and who are committed to ensuring that tomorrow’s brothers have the same experiences they did. And we need you, who have already decided to step up and go All In, to help your fellow brothers see the importance of re-engaging in the Fraternity.

Delta Sigma Phi is not a four year experience that takes place from ages 18-22. It is a commitment for life that each and every brother pledged to

when we joined the Fraternity during our undergraduate years. But it’s likely not something that we think about as often as we should.

In addition, in our personal lives we often don’t just decide that we want to get involved in yet another activity unless someone we know and trust asks us.

So, the question is, can you identify a brother or two that you can ask to join you in going All In for Delta Sig? Do you think you can help us identify some of the brothers who will help us continue our push toward becoming America’s Leading Fraternity? If you are able to engage some additional brothers to join us in meeting our mission of Building Better Men, you have successfully completed mini-mission #5, helping us move ever closer to accomplishing our overall mission.

Delta Sigma Phi is an important organization, steeped in developing leaders in our local communities and in our nation. Our mission of Building Better Men is not just a phrase. It is something that we strive to do everyday, and only with the commitment of you, Delta Sig’s league of agents across the country, can we accomplish this all too important mission that will help shape the future of the world.

Will you help the Fraternity meet its mission? The future of the Fraternity depends on it.

This message and our mission will (NOT) self destruct, it will actually be more important and dynamic, in five, four, three, two, one…

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Business & Finance

THE STORY OF A DELTA SIG CEO’S

RISE

TO THE TOP BOB BLOOM, HARTWICK ’73

Leading a company is not an easy thing. Leading one of the oldest companies in a particular industry puts even more on someone’s shoulders. For Bob Bloom, Hartwick ’73, the opportunity to lead an established company and help it grow were important aspects of him taking the President and CEO job with ColorTyme, Inc. five years ago.

ColorTyme is celebrating its 30th year in 2009, and is one of the oldest companies in the rent-to-own (RTO) industry.

With over 200 franchised stores in 33 states across the US, located in towns large and small, urban and rural, it has a wide reach providing customers with items from refrigerators to car rims. It’s an interesting business – one that Bloom is excited that he is a part of.

However, before he could get to ColorTyme to lead its day-to-day operations, he had an interesting journey that started by him working his way up the ladder at Ponderosa Steakhouse. Immediately after graduating from college, Bloom took a position with the company in its infancy, and spent the first 17 years of his career helping it become a large company.

“When I started, there were three stores in New York State. When I left, I was managing over 100 stores and probably 35 of them were in New York State,” he said.

He started as an assistant manager, working his way up through the company, and 17 years later, he left as a Regional Vice President, responsible for the restaurants in several states. However, it was a position earlier in his career that really was a big break for him – that showed him how a major corporation worked from the inside.

He spent five years serving as the manager of concept and product development, a position in which he led the team that tested and introduced new products. In that position Bloom was involved with every department. From marketing, to market research, to food technology, to financing and franchising, Bloom got a tremendous sneak peek into how a corporation works. And that franchising experience would do well for him when it came time to work for ColorTyme.

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After his 17th year with the company, it was acquired, and he was ready for new challenges. So, he began networking.

He talked to former colleagues, former acquaintances, and people who he had met in different phases of his career.

Through his networking, and after three months of being off work, he had four job offers on the same day. Three were in the restaurant industry and the fourth was with the rent-to-own giant Rent-a-Center (RAC). He had made contact with a former marketing director during his networking who was at RAC at the time, and saw a tremendous opportunity for growth with the company. So, he accepted their offer to serve as a market manager trainee leading six stores.

It turns out Bloom was right about the opportunities for growth with the company. After six months, he was leading 75 stores, and after 18 months, he was a corporate vice president of operations support. He said, “It was the right place, at the right time, with the right skill set.”

After three years in the operations support role, Bloom was given the opportunity to start a new business within RAC – the Rent to Rent business. After a few years putting a team in place and making it successful, Bloom moved on to head a division of the company called Rural Stores, which grew from 50 to over 300 stores under his leadership.

After what he called a fun experience, once again, the company where he worked was acquired, leading Bloom back to networking. This led him to go back to Ponderosa Steakhouse as the vice president for franchise operations, a position in which he led 400 franchise stores. However, he found that he wasn’t growing personally or professionally within that position, and felt that the company wasn’t progressing where it needed to. Now, five years later, it’s in bankruptcy, so Bloom was right yet again.

He then spent four years as the senior vice president of operations at EZ Corp., the second largest operator of pawn shops in the US. During his time there, he was part of a team that consolidated operations, improved the store economics and entered the payday loan segment. Profits went from significant losses to profitability and the stock price quadrupled. Not a bad four years.

The last stop on his journey was when in 2004, he became President and CEO of ColorTyme, a subsidiary company of RAC. When RAC was bought by Renter’s Choice five years earlier, they also brought their franchise arm, ColorTyme, with them.

Bloom was brought on board to lead ColorTyme’s operations, which he had gotten quite good at during his other stops along his journey. While a subsidiary company of RAC, ColorTyme is a large company in its own right. It is the third largest RTO company in the United States. It would be even

bigger than its current 200 stores, but RAC has bought 130 of ColorTyme’s stores over the last five years.

Due to it being 100% franchise owned, ColorTyme is in a unique position to foster and reward innovation, and Bloom encourages that regularly. Franchisees have developed ideas for the stores to include financial services operations, and even custom rims and wheels.

“We got into the rim business when a longtime ColorTyme franchisee, Jim Moore, called me and said that there was a new business model out there that used the same core competencies that we have at ColorTyme, and that he’d like to do it. We helped fund his new effort 3 ½ years ago, and today there are 24 RimTyme stores, 14 franchised and 10 company-owned,” Bloom said.

The rent-to-own business is a unique one, especially with a 100% franchise-owned company. Bloom is responsible for ensuring that all of the franchisees are on board with the company’s efforts, and that they are representing the company well. It comes down to trusting franchisees, developing relationships with them, developing credibility that you know what you’re doing, and listening to them. Franchising also requires much stronger communication among the corporate office staff and the franchisees according to Bloom.

Regularly, he is the keynote speaker at state level conferences on rent-to-own, and spends two-three weeks per year doing work with the International Franchising Association. He works with his boss, the president of RAC, as well as his staff on developing long-term goals for the company, talks with legislators about RTO legislation, and works hard to foster an environment where best practices are identified and easily implemented.

According to Bloom, what’s hot right now in the world is also hot for the company and his franchisees in terms of best practices. The use of social networking sites, as well as Craigslist, have been extremely important to the company’s

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Business & Finance About Rent-to-Own • Gives customers access to brand name merchandise, typically furniture, appliances, televisions and other electronics, without them worrying about going into debt.

• Customers make weekly, bi-weekly or monthly payments and they have the option to own the merchandise after as little as 12 months • There are cash sales and early purchase options that allow customers not to use a credit card and go into debt.

• Ability to return your merchandise with no penalties at any time.

• Statistics according to RTOhq.org: – The industry as a whole is a $6.3 billion industry – 52% of customers are home owners, 48% are renters – Largest age demographic is the 35-44 range, with 34% of customers being in this age range – 69% of customers are Caucasian, 22% are African American, 6% are Hispanic – 60% are high school graduates, another 24% have completed some college, and only 8% are college graduates – 63% of customers are females, 37% are males

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franchisees, and are great places for them to sell used merchandise that is returned to the store. They’re also great places to find good employees. The company is also planning to incorporate webinars to help train their many franchisees all over the country at once.

In addition, to help foster that innovation and the best practices, the company holds two events each year. The first is an event in Dallas in January where store managers, regional directors, and owners attend and where a lot of the company’s recognition, training, and a vendor tradeshow take place for them to potentially expand their offerings in their stores. In the summer, the company goes to a resort with mostly owners and their families to provide an industry update, information from RAC, and some additional sharing of best practices.

So what’s next for the company? There are a number of new avenues that the company is embarking upon. One of the hotter new items for ColorTyme has been flat screen televisions, according to Bloom, but the question continues coming back to how the company can communicate the company’s value proposition so more people fall into that proposition. There are currently 3 million RTO customers, but a lot more people fall into the demographics that don’t use RTO, so it’s a matter of figuring out how to get them to do business with ColorTyme. That will be the next big thing.

With all of the turmoil that has been going on this year, and the fact that people are losing patience with debt and credit cards, Bloom and ColorTyme might just get their wish.

Bob Bloom is a 1971 initiate of the Fraternity’s Beta Rho Chapter at Hartwick College. He is a native of Cambridge, New York, and currently resides in a Dallas suburb with his wife of 33 years. He has two adult daughters – Ginny who is a manager for Nickelodeon and Kelly who is a manager at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

OPPOSITES COME TOGETHER

TO LEAD AT FOX DEAN HALLET, USC ’77 KEITH FELDMAN, STETSON ’81

Dean Hallett (left) and Keith Feldman (right) work together to make Fox one of the top entertainment companies in the world.

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Business & Finance One is from southern California. The other is from south Florida.

One attended a large public university. The other attended a small private university.

One was more involved on campus. The other was heavily involved as an undergraduate in the Fraternity.

One has an accounting background. The other has a sales and advertising background.

One has two grown children ages 18 and 20. The other has two young children ages one and four.

One racks up his miles commuting in a Toyota Prius from Orange County to Beverly Hills each day (which probably seems as long as an international flight). The other has millions of airline miles due to his many annual international trips.

On the surface, these two Delta Sigs couldn’t be more different. However, they have a lot of things in common as well, including their interest in getting the movies and television shows produced by Fox Filmed Entertainment into the hands of as many consumers as possible.

Dean Hallett, USC ’77, the first in our examples above, serves as the Executive Vice President of Operations and Strategy, as well as the Chief Financial Officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment, and Keith Feldman, Stetson ’81, our second above, serves as the Executive Vice President, International, of the Home Entertainment Division of 20th Century Fox.

ABOUT THE BROTHERS Even with varying backgrounds, one thing they have in common is that neither planned to go into entertainment when they were thinking about their career trajectories.

For Hallett, a native of southern California whose father also attended the University of Southern California, he began his career in public accounting for Ernst & Whinney, a Big 8 firm at the time. After a nearly eight years, he moved on to serve in corporate finance and accounting for a division of one of his public accounting clients. A few years later, he had an opportunity to interview at The Walt Disney Company, where he worked for eleven years eventually becoming the CFO for the Walt Disney Studios. In his current role with Fox Filmed Entertainment, he oversees all of the financial and accounting areas, the IT department, and all of the studio and post-production facilities. He also works closely with the business units to help drive their strategy and results.

Hallett arrived at Fox as the CFO only, but in his first couple of years took on an operational focus. In his interactions, he noticed that the Fox infrastructure needed to evolve more rapidly to keep up with changes in technology used to deliver films and TV programming. His role as Executive Vice President of Operations and Strategy was established to fill that gap and manage the infrastructure that would support the company’s growth.

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“An example of this is the digital cinema initiative, which completely changes the way we distribute theatrical products,” he said. “You have the engineers, the IT department, the distribution sales organization, and the finance team, and everybody has a perspective and point of view based on their differing agendas. “I watched for six months as the conflicting agendas prevented the group from developing an effective strategy to move the technology into the marketplace, and realized someone had to bring the group together.”

Hallett serves mostly as a facilitator, ensuring that the smartest, best people are in the room to develop the strategy with his guidance, and bringing the group together to support and execute the strategy. One of the smart people he gets in the room is Keith Feldman.

Feldman has a different role, and a different background leading up to his time at Fox. Originally born in upstate New York, Feldman’s family relocated to south Florida before he attended Stetson University. He graduated and went on to begin a career in sales and marketing in the wine business, which took him overseas early in his career.

He lived and worked all over the world, including in London and Frankfurt during his time with E&J Gallo.

Then, he was approached by an executive recruiter for an opportunity to move to Fox, an opportunity that allowed him to leverage the experience he had already gotten working in consumer products for the wine company. He came on board in a European-based position, and decided to make the move, which 14 years later seems like a good one. He said, “I’m so glad I decided to come to the entertainment business, because most of the time it doesn’t seem like work.”

In his current position, Feldman’s objective is to get films and television programs the company produces into the homes of as many consumers as he can. He leads the company’s 15 operating companies outside of North America in Europe, Asia and Latin America, who serve as partners in bringing the content to their marketplaces. He travels approximately 12-16 times per year internationally, many times to places he once lived in previous positions within the company – London, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris.

“I spend a lot of time on planes out in the marketplace trying to understand the challenges the operating companies are facing,” he said. “I also spend that time trying to understand how changes in technology, the regulation around the world, consumer behavior, and the retail landscape are affecting the company.”

THE COMPANY AND THE MOVIE BUSINESS Fox is a huge company, which is evidenced by the large number of different production arms within it. You’ve likely heard about 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight, but what about Fox 2000 and Blue Sky Studios? These are all under the overarching Fox Filmed Entertainment umbrella. In addition to all

of these production studios, there are also different distribution channels, including home entertainment, theatrical, and online. Feldman’s position is based in the home entertainment area, currently generating the greatest revenue for the studio.

As you likely know, the movie business and entertainment as a whole are undergoing a lot of changes. The rise in technological advances is spurring a great deal of change in how movies are developed, and how content is delivered across the country and the world.

At Fox, Hallett and his team have been developing an infrastructure in which the content that is being developed by the company can easily be distributed across a number of platforms soon after it is developed.

This distribution infrastructure is the industry-leading solution for the Hollywood studios, allowing the company to move marketing materials virtually cost free around the world, and to distribute the company’s shows and movies digitally to television and digital platforms without costing the company money to duplicate and ship tapes. These changes will save the company millions, and will make your experience as an end user more enjoyable by giving you the ability to watch your favorite Fox television shows and movies where you want to watch them.

Hallett and Feldman both enjoy the company’s family-like atmosphere, which allows them to feel comfortable working together to accomplish the company’s overarching goal – to have sustainable bottom line growth for the company. This goal allows everyone to be successful, and encourages everyone to work together, as their incentives are tied to it.

According to Hallett, “If you look at incentives, many of our programs provide for discretionary awards, but we know that as the company’s performance improves, the incentives will improve as well. If we’re all playing the game together, we’re all going to participate in the rewards and benefits, even if one division must sacrifice for the benefit of another.

We all feel like we’re working toward the same goal.”

For Feldman, looking at the company’s efforts with an international lens, Fox continues to grow internationally in terms of its distribution reach. He has been able to champion the significant expansion of the company’s operations internationally, including the establishment of operations in Brazil, Russia, and Switzerland.

He has been able to gain the support of the top level executives of the company, like Hallett and the two chairmen, to expand the company’s distribution infrastructure around the world. With the way the world is become flatter and more interconnected these days, these expansions will significantly help the company’s bottom line, that is, once the current recession turns around.

As for the company’s performance during the downturn, Hallett is upbeat. “So far, as it has historically been, it’s been recession-resistant. The box office admissions are up both

domestically and internationally,” he said. The place where the company is struggling a bit is in the home entertainment area, Feldman’s area, as people are becoming more and more selective about purchasing DVDs.

THE FUTURE OF ENTERTAINMENT While Fox is seeing a bit of a drop off in home entertainment sales during the downturn, it is quick to mention that this isn’t necessarily a reason to draw conclusions that the whole model of entertainment is shifting. According to Hallett, it’s much too early to make that determination, as the home entertainment area’s slowdown is not any more significant than any other segments of business, such as clothing, during this economic crisis.

At the same time, one has to wonder whether the emergence of easily accessible movies online will make a dent in the DVD sales moving forward. Hallett sees DVDs sticking around for a long time, at least until there is a much more efficient way to move movies, and until broadband speeds are higher for consumers. In addition, there is the visceral feel of a DVD itself that today’s generations may not move away from quickly.

However, that doesn’t mean that Fox isn’t looking at alternative ways to sell and move its content. The company is dipping its toes into all of the different business models to ensure that it’s ready once one of them sticks. “We’re trying video on demand, subscription, and ad supported streaming, and we try to steer solutions in directions that are more meaningful to us while also satisfying the consumer,” Hallett said.

Technology may make consuming the movie easier for consumers, but it’s making it more difficult for the company to market the movies. Feldman said that the marketing challenge was much simpler when there were fewer ways to consume the movie back when he and Hallett entered the entertainment business. You would let people know it’s available, and they would see it in the theater or get the VHS tape.

Now with the additional ways to consume movies, the marketing challenge has increased for the company, forcing them to tickle everyone’s buying bone so to speak. One person may want the movie to be portable, while another may want it to be picture perfect on a large home-theater screen. “We used to just market a movie. Now, we’re trying to market the movie and the benefit of a certain delivery mechanism,” Feldman said.

As you can see, Fox seems to be pushing the right buttons when it comes to preparing for the future of the entertainment business.

The company also seems to have made the right choice in terms of who it hired to lead it – two Delta Sigs who while seemingly opposites on paper, are amazingly down to Earth corporate executives helping to take the company to new heights. At least they have that in common!

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Health & Fitness

Meeting the Medical Needs in Third World Countries

A DELTA SIG’S

By Matt Yarnell, Western Illinois ’02

EXPERIENCE

Sometimes it is difficult to take the time to care for every patient the way we would like. Sometimes we are forced to cut conversations short or hurry through an explanation.

Working in the Emergency Department at a public hospital has taught me a number of things, of course about healthcare, but also about myself and about the people we serve.

I have found that through this work I have seen the good that people have, as well as the harsh reality that is life. It is unfortunate that we have to refer to patients simply by their

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room number or main illness, but with the enormous task that is presented to us on a daily basis, we often forget that we are there for these people, and they rely on us.

In February of this year I was given the opportunity to embark on a medical mission trip to the country of Guatemala. Guatemala is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a nearly half of its population living on under $1 a day. Guatemala is also very well known for its large orphan population, due to mothers being prostitutes or

families simply not being able to afford another child. The country of Guatemala has recently put a freeze on foreign adoptions due to a lack of the government getting their “proper cut.” Healthcare is a luxury for these people. For some, the nearest hospital is 60 miles or more from their home, not to mention they would need public transportation in the form of a school bus to get there.

The program, ER Abroad, is set up through friends that live in the country. For one week our team operated a free clinic on the campus of a large orphanage in the mountains outside of Chimaltenango. For the most part, we saw villagers from the area, people who lived in small homes made of scrap metal and other discarded industrial items. People who were so grateful to see a physician and medical staff they were brought to tears. A contrast to the overcrowding of ERs in America, the villagers gladly waited sometimes two hours before seeing a nurse and physician. People presented for the most part with minor aches and pains, mostly from years of physical labor and farming. We preformed numerous “well-child” checks, looking for everything from lice to diabetes. This year we were fortunate enough to have a dentist from Texas join us with his team. This group cleaned teeth and even did a few extractions.

However, not everyone presented with the normal aches and pains. On our first day, a woman walked nearly two miles, one of them uphill, to bring in her two children. She wanted a “well-child” check done. After it was determined the children were as healthy as they should be, their mother mentioned that she believes that morning her water broke.

After a quick exam it was determined that she would be delivering her baby in the clinic that afternoon. After gathering the proper equipment, mainly a clean towel to wrap the newborn in and an umbilical clamp that just happened to be at the clinic, we were ready, we hoped.

After nearly an hour of letting nature work its course, Mom was ready to deliver, with a little pushing and encouragement, baby Marco was born. He was of healthy weight and size, with all ten fingers and ten toes. The excitement was contagious that day and we were all very proud of Mom and ourselves. We recently received an e-mail from the clinic with an update on Marco; he is doing great and growing.

We continued seeing people in the clinic and one day went to Guatemala City to visit an orphanage and do “well-child” checks. A woman known as Mama Carmen runs the orphanage. Everyday she feeds, bathes, and gets her children off to school. She does not receive government funding or grants, she simply operates from donations and charitable gifts from the community and mission groups.

Mama Carmen also feeds the homeless in her neighborhood.

The trip was very humbling in the sense that the people that we served were so grateful for their care. In the high paced world of emergency medicine, where we deal with

acute illness and severe pain, it is not uncommon for patients to become short with staff or families to get emotional. In Guatemala, where it is not common practice to see a physician and get medical care, being treated for a backache was a blessing. With the hustle that has become America’s hospitals, bedside manner and one-on-one patient care is quickly and sadly becoming a thing of the past.

Where a nurse may take care of thirty patients during a shift in the ER, we were allowed to see each person or family individually and take the time to explain their medications or better body mechanics.

If I can pass on one thing to the Brothers of Delta Sigma Phi, I would remind them to remember that during our undergraduate years we served ourselves, our brothers, our school, and our community. In these uncertain times, we should look at ways we can improve not only ourselves but also those around us. A charitable contribution does not necessarily have to be financial. Donating time or manpower is sometimes just as valuable, if not more, than a check.

Matt Yarnell with one of the orphans he treated while in Guatemala.

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Health & Fitness

AN EXCERPT FROM

8

HAPPINESS IN

steps

David Lindemann, Eastern Michigan ’61

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Author, speaker, consultant and coach David Lindemann, Eastern Michigan ’61, published a book called Happiness in 8 Steps (read more about it in the Books by Brothers section on page 50), in which he provides his eight steps to happiness.

It’s a quick and interesting read, and since happiness is really an important part of one’s overall health, we thought that reprinting one of the sections called “thank you” made sense here in the Health & Fitness section of the magazine.

See below for Chapter 2 from Lindemann’s book, which gives a story as an example of the importance of saying thank you to make you and others happy. The other chapters of his book focus on such things as giving, eating healthy, keeping your body in shape, being around people you love, making people happy, and the importance of laughter.

Chapter 2 – Thank You When you enter a store and you hold the door open for someone else and they say “thank you”, doesn’t that make you feel good? Well, it does for me too. “Thank you”, just two little words, but what a world of positive impact!

In reality, you can’t say “thank you” enough. Every time you say “thank you”, you are making someone feel good. Every time you say “thank you”, you are acknowledging the other person, giving them respect, and reaching out to make a human connection.

If you want to enjoy life more, say “thank you” more often.

It is really that easy! That reminds me of a story.

Eric was a very nice little boy. Even at that age, you could see he was something special. He liked people, and people liked him. As Eric grew up, he became an excellent athlete, playing sports in high school and later in college. He also was a good student. People wanted to be around Eric. However, they thought there was something a bit strange about Eric. He was nice as he could be, handsome and strong, and was a good friend to many. Still, he seemed to be missing something, which no one could put their finger on.

What was that something? Well, when Eric was well into college, he ran into Ellen. They seemed to have a great fascination for one another, and they seemed to have the same interests. They were both athletic, they were both good students, and they liked to experiment. They liked to see new things. They loved the same music. They seemed to be a great match.

Then one day Ellen said, “Eric, I know what’s wrong.”

“What do you mean ‘what’s wrong’?” Eric questioned Ellen.

“It’s not that you’re not a great guy. I care about you, and I really care more about you every day. But there’s something missing. I think you might know, as pleasant and nice as you are. I’ve never heard you say ‘thank you’. Maybe you should try saying ‘thank you’ for the rest of the day when something nice is done for you. Say ‘thank you’ and observe what happens,” Ellen recommended.

Eric, being a bright guy, told Ellen he would give it a try.

For the rest of the day, Eric went around saying “thank you” when it was appropriate, and he started noticing that people would smile. Eric noticed that by saying just these two words, he was making others feel good, and then Eric started to realize it made him feel good, too. So he decided to put those two words permanently into his vocabulary: “thank you”.

One evening, after they both had graduated from college, Eric and Ellen had a very quiet dinner. At that point, both of them had landed good jobs and were ready to move on with life.

Out of the blue, Eric asked, “Will you marry me?”

Ellen looked at him, and said, “Of course, Eric.”

Eric said, “Thank you.”

Just think of these two words, “thank you”, and the impact they can have on others, as well as yourself. The impact was tremendous for Eric and Ellen.

David Lindemann has had a long career in business, ending up as the Chairman and CEO of Huron Machine Products Inc. before turning over the reins over to his son.

Presently David is president of A Child Is Missing, a national organization that supports law enforcement in locating missing people. David is an active member of Broward College Foundation, and has a passion for helping people understand themselves and others. He has spoken on this topic throughout the United States.

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Leadership & Education

THE Actions WE SHOW, THE Image

We Share

By Ry Beck, North Texas ’04

I woke up this particular morning in Springfield, Missouri after a night’s stay at the Motel 6, you know, the people who “leave the light on for you.” There was nothing overwhelmingly unexpected from my stay; a television with basic cable, a remote with a missing battery, and the quiet thrum of highway traffic. My morning routine is just that; I shave with my Gillette razor, “The best a man can get”, I brush my teeth with something approved by 4 out of 5 dentists, and finally, I lace up my Puma sneakers – sorry, no nifty slogan here, its all about the lifestyle.

Walking out the door, I realize just how much every image, brand, and slogan in my daily life represents something a little more tangible. As that I applies to me, I wonder what exactly

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it is that the world sees when they look. I throw my bags in the car, close the trunk, and stare directly at the Delta Sigma Phi decal that rests perfectly centered on my rear window. As that applies to us, I wonder what exactly it is that the world sees when they look.

Now, I have noticed this decal on more than one occasion, and it has represented many passionate ideals over the years.

The day I was initiated it was a symbol of immeasurable prowess that only deserved to be accompanied by loud music and lowered windows. By my senior year these letters became a mixed pantheon derived from some obscure combination of success, failure, and friendship. With each day adding one more tally in the alumnus category, the message seems some-

what more nostalgic, and with that vagueness, somewhat more literal in definition; simply put, the letters are that of an organization, Delta Sigma Phi. Unlike the images of my morning routine, I am proud that there is something more substantial represented by this decal and organization. With this thought comes a slightly more important detail; that as much as the value of our letters represent who I am, there is further emphasis on how my actions represent the value of who we are. However seemingly irrelevant, the speed I am now driving down the construction zone of Interstate 44, my late night Twitter post at the Motel 6, and the old bid day shirt that is worn during weekly softball games, all tend to send the world a message about Delta Sigma Phi. I guess the point is that this relationship between personal action and outward image is almost always interchangeable; and if we are in the business of being “Better Men,” then it is our responsibility to make sure our actions mirror the message.

It is difficult to identify which opinion of Delta Sigma Phi will be derived from our behaviors. We are such an eclectic assortment of fraternity men, and have been since our founding, with everything we exemplify, how could one particular action define an entire brotherhood? In all honesty, a single action will not tell the world about every member of Delta Sigma Phi; however, a single action could tell one person, everything they ever wanted to know.

I pull over to stop for food, check my e-mail, and catch up with friends on Facebook. As I scroll down the list of status updates, I see that someone had a fun weekend, someone lost their job, and someone else apparently didn’t care too much for theirs; “Big surprise, my stupid boss is makin me work late again… I really need to get out of this place… ANYONE HIRING?” So, apart from forgetting the “g” in making, there are a couple things here that make me want to pick up my phone, call this guy, and ask him what exactly he is thinking.

Social media is a strange thing, and while I haven’t fully wrapped my head around all its far-reaching extremities, I have figured out that I probably shouldn’t use any public forum as a place to passive aggressively defame my boss, talk about how I was arrested the night before, or pick a fight with my significant other. We all have our less than memorable moments, but the thing to know about proclaiming your introspection through an internet post or picture, is that these “moments” lose their past tense qualification, and will most assuredly root themselves in a more permanent fashion.

Digressions aside, I enter the on-ramp and continue on my way. My thoughts of image and action are brought back to the forefront by a well-known remark on the back of a passing truck, “How am I driving?”. The question is probably only answered when the driver slips up and some angered motorist decides to make amends by calling the toll-free number, but I get the feeling that the same call isn’t made when the driver changes lanes and allows someone to pass. The connection here is that while good deeds are appreciated, it is usually the one bad mistake that gets noticed.

We have chapters that have committed thousands of hours of service to better their communities, and the reality is that individuals, people like you and me, woke up, dedicated time, effort, and money, to make their world a better place. The blood we have donated will save lives. The trees we have planted will better our environment. And the children we have mentored will view the world differently, all because we cared to act. These great endeavors, however, become quickly overshadowed by the times we fail to fulfill a promise, or act without regard to others. What message are we sending when we show up for class in our Delta Sig sweats, but we fall asleep ten minutes later, or when we raise $5,000 for M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), but our proceeds come from the cover charge at our favorite bar? What is most likely to get noticed here, that we made it to class, or that we fell asleep; that we raised money for a charitable organization, or that we spent all of Wednesday night at the bar? It’s been said many times before, but it can be a difficult concept to embrace, this being the simple truth that we are always wearing our letters. We cannot choose when we will act as Delta Sigs, and when we will not; and because the world does not see a distinction between our pledged faith and our followed action, neither should we.

It is amazing how every image, brand, and slogan impacts those who view them. Just as someone expects a certain quality of razor from Gillette, or shoe from Puma, there is a certain expectation in the quality of brand that is Delta Sigma Phi. We are not in the business of making products that people wear or use, but in the furtherance of who people are. Only by our earnest attention to the choices we make, however seemingly inconsequential, will the letters on our shirts, flags, banners, and cars, be synonymous with the better men that comprise our great fraternity.

ΔΣΦ FALL 2009

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Leadership & Education

THE ART OF

NETWORKING Four Tips to Becoming a Master Networker

BY JOE DOYLE, OREGON ’03

You’re at your company picnic munching on chips and talking with your co-workers when you notice the CEO of your company near the grill. Two days ago, an office memo was released stating that he was looking for a new project manager for a high profile client. You know you will be a perfect fit, but you’re not sure if the CEO even knows your name.

Besides, even if you had the guts to approach him right now you wouldn’t know what to say.

Does this sound familiar? If it does, chances are that you’re lousy at networking.

There are many misconceptions about networking. From the moment you graduate from college, if you haven’t already, you will be confronted with people telling you, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” First, it would have been nice to know this BEFORE you got up to your neck in student loans, and second, they’ve got it all wrong. That statement should be changed to: “It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.” You can have thousands of friends on Facebook, but it means nothing if those people don’t keep you in the forefront of their minds. It’s my job to make sure that when a big opportunity comes up, the decision makers think of you first.

There are four key elements to social networking, two of which most people don’t understand. These elements are how to deal with approach anxiety and how to give value.

Master these two ideas and you will have the power to master both your professional life as well as your social life.

Approach anxiety is that little voice in your head giving you reasons and excuses for not striking up a conversation with the beautiful woman you see across the room or your CEO near the grill.

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“They look busy.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“I’m too shy.”

“I’m just an office drone.”

These are just a few of the self limiting beliefs that voice can instill in your brain keeping your feet firmly planted on the ground. I have news for you, if you don’t believe in yourself, how do you expect your CEO to believe in you?

It’s time to look at yourself like a business. Great social networkers are great at selling themselves. To gain that sense of self worth you must invest in your life just like any entrepreneur would invest in his company. Start creating small attainable goals and follow through with them. As corny as this might sound, doing these small tasks like reading before bed, running for thirty minutes everyday, or learning to play that musical instrument you’ve always wanted to play, will give you a sense of accomplishment. One of my many mantras I repeat daily is, “Believe in your heart of hearts that you are worthy of greatness.”

Now that you are beginning to invest in your self worth and confidence, we need to get you from point A to point B. In any social situation you should employ something I call the “Three Second Rule.” If you see somebody you would like to speak with, you must approach him or her within three seconds. The longer you and that little voice debate about the pros and cons of speaking with your target, the more stress is added to the situation. This is quite possibly the only time where not thinking before you act can work out in your favor.

As you approach your potential new contact, be sure that you are at a slight angle. If you approach somebody with your shoulders square to them, you are going to convey that you

‘‘

have too much interest in that person. This will subconsciously raise their guard and give away the fact that you might be looking for something from them. We want our new contact to be as relaxed and comfortable with us as possible.

Now that you are standing near them, you’d better start talking or else things are going to get awkward fast. It’s time to give value. There is nothing worse then a leech. These people are constantly taking without giving back. The best way to avoid being “that guy” is to resist any journalistic urge to rattle off questions. This forces your potential contact to give the conversation value. It’s your time to shine. Here are some tips to help you provide value to the conversation: • Enter the conversation with equal or slightly higher energy then the group. This way you start the interaction off by giving the gift of energy to the group.

• Have confidence and take charge.

• Make sure to speak to the entire group, and not single out your potential contact.

• Don’t start the conversation off talking about work.

These people spend eight to ten hours a day living and breathing their profession. The last thing that they want to talk about when they are off the clock is work.

• Once the ice has been broken, throw in a false time constraint to make your contact comfortable and not wondering when you are going to leave. “I can only stay a second,” is my go to false time constraint.

Now that everyone is engaged and knows you aren’t going to follow them around, demonstrate your value through stories. Rather than saying, “I know I would make a great project manager for this client,” show them by telling stories of past projects that you helped succeed. You’ve now established you are a value giver and not a value taker, so feel free to pepper in a few of those questions you were dying to ask. Now that you aren’t relying on them, you will find that the answers to those questions surface through the course of the interaction.

The final two steps to becoming a successful at networking are exchanging contact information and following up with your new contact.

Asking for someone’s contact information is easier then you think. “I’ve enjoyed our conversation. How can we continue it?” Using this exact phrasing takes the pressure of both you and your new contact by allowing your contact to decide how to stay in touch. They can decide to exchange phone numbers, business cards, or e-mails. In reality, it doesn’t matter what contact information you get because the goal is to see them on a different occasion. An important point to remember is that when you do receive the contact informa-

Believe in your heart of hearts that you are worthy of greatness.

tion, stick around for at least five minutes. This will insure that your contact won’t think that the whole point of interacting with them was to get their contact information.

If you haven’t already set up another encounter during your conversation make it a point to follow up with your new contact the next day. This will ensure that they remember who you are and where they met you. Also, be aware that when your new contact receives your call or e-mail, they won’t be in the same mindset as when you met them. It’s your job to get them back there. I will usually bring up an inside joke we shared from our first meeting.

Sometimes your schedule won’t match up with theirs and you run the risk of not being able to meet right away. Not to worry. You don’t want to seem too needy. Remember that you are a high value person with a busy schedule as well.

Reinitiate the conversation with your contact in two weeks and then again a month after that. This will keep you fresh in their minds.

I’ll leave you with one last networking tip. Never hold a drink and a hors d’oeuvre plate at the same time. With both hands full, you will not be ready to shake hands with anyone or receive a business card. You always want to be prepared in case that CEO happens to approach you at the company picnic.

Joe Doyle graduated in 2006 from the University of Oregon as a member of the Theta Rho chapter of Delta Sig. A year after graduating, Doyle appeared on the hit VH1 reality series “The Pickup Artist,” where he learned the art of social dynamics and networking. After placing third, he went on to teach seminars across the country to men who were looking to improve the social, romantic, and business aspects of their lives. For more information about participating in a seminar or his new e-book “Date Overweight: A Big Guy’s Guide to Dating and Romance,” you can contact him at bookjoed@gmail.com He currently resides in Los Angeles, California where he continues to persue acting, and writing while working as the Public Relations Director for the social dynamics company The Stylelife Academy (stylelife.com).

FALL 2009

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Sports

A DREAM COME TRUE –

A DELTA SIG MAKES IT TO THE BIG LEAGUES MARK NEELY, MISSOURI ’84

Kids across the country grow up dreaming of the chance to make it to the big leagues of America’s Pastime.

They play games in the sandlot in their neighborhood trying to be the next Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez.

When most of them watch the games on television, they are enamored by the players who smack 500 foot homeruns and steal bases left and right. But not Mark Neely, Missouri ’84. Growing up in Ballwin, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb, Neely was more enamored by the voice of long-time Cardinals play by play announcer Jack Buck, as he wanted to become a major league play by play announcer.

His dreams came true earlier this year, when he was hired to be the lead television play by play announcer for the San Diego Padres. Although it’s his first year in the big leagues, Neely is no rookie in broadcasting.

His interest in working as a play by play announcer began in high school, when he began doing high school basketball play by play on a local YMCA’s 10 watt radio station in his hometown. He would call the games, and eventually became the station’s manager as a senior in high school, leading him to the University of Missouri’s prestigious journalism school.

However, he still wasn’t totally sure that he wanted to do play by play

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sports work. That quickly became clear to him however when he got to Mizzou. “I thought that perhaps news would be what I wanted to do,” he said. “It just took a few city council meetings, and I was sure that sports really was where I wanted to go.”

After five semesters of working on campus at Missouri, a school that did not offer play by play-specific curriculum at the time, he decided that he needed to transfer somewhere that did offer it. He chose Missouri’s arch rival, the University of Kansas, to continue his academic career.

“At the time, I looked at different schools who offered play by play, and Kansas allowed me to come in and do the men’s basketball games on the student station right away, as well as one half of all of the football games. It was just something I didn’t regret, even though it was tough to leave Mizzou and the house,” he said.

After graduating from Kansas, Neely began his rise to his current position at a small radio station in Carthage, Missouri, a town in southwestern Missouri near Joplin. That station was a carrier of the Kansas City Royals radio network, and that allowed its employees to get press passes to cover Royals games. While at one of the games, Neely inquired about how to get into play by play in

baseball, to which he was told to go to the Winter Baseball Meetings.

A year later, he attended the Winter Meetings, and landed his first job in baseball as the play by play announcer for the Class A team in Boise, Idaho, a part of the Angels system at the time. After that assignment, he began climbing the ladder all the way to AAA, making stops in Springfield, Illinois(A), Louisville, Kentucky (AAA), Salem, Virginia (A), and finally in Tulsa, Oklahoma (AA), where he led the broadcasts for the Tulsa Drillers team. While in Tulsa, Neely got another big break, meeting ESPN announcer Bob Carpenter.

“Bob Carpenter lives in Tulsa, was doing ESPN baseball at the time, and helped me send my tape to a guy named Tim Scanlan at ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut,” Neely said.

“Tim gave me the opportunity to do the 2000 AA All Star Game on ESPN.” From there, Neely began doing major league games on ESPN in 2001, as well as some college basketball and college football for the ESPN family of networks, all while still doing his work with the Drillers.

In 2007, Neely once again moved on, this time to the new Big Ten Network, where he began doing college football and basketball games, as well as other sports, all the while still

The San Diego Padres’ television announcing team from left, former Major League player Mark Grant, Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, and Mark Neely, Missouri ’84.

keeping the dream of doing full-time major league baseball in the back of his mind.

His chance to accomplish his dream came in early 2009, when he was hired to serve as the lead television play by play announcer for the Padres, a position in which he works with baseball greats Mark Grant and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn as his analysts. While Gwynn only does 30-40 games per year with the broadcast team, he brings a lot to the telecasts according to Neely.

“Tony Gwynn is baseball in San Diego. Everything that you’ve probably ever heard about him is true,” he said. “He’s a gentleman, he’s humble, and the interesting dynamic now is with his son Tony Jr. on the team.

He obviously is a big fan and wants to see his son do well, but he’s also objective about it. When Tony Jr. does well he says so, and when doesn’t do well, he says so.”

So what is life like for a major league play by play announcer?

According to Neely it’s essentially showing up at the stadium four hours before game time, where he talks to players, coaches, the managers of both teams, his producer and director. Then, it’s time to do the telecast.

The next day, he gets up and does it again. There’s also the travel, which is with the team from city to city.

Neely says that it is amazing to be able to do what he does on a daily basis, but the fact that baseball is essentially played every day for six months makes it mentally demanding. “It’s fun, and it definitely beats working an actual job for a living, that’s for sure,” he said. “But it’s a very demanding job time-wise six months out of the year, and you certainly have to be able to handle that grind. It’s not like once a week with football or a couple times a week with basketball. You’re doing it everyday, which is one of the reasons it’s my favorite sport to do.”

Now living in San Diego with his wife of 14 years and young son,

Neely has a long career ahead of him. He spent over a decade in the minor leagues honing his craft, and now is a lead play by play announcer in the big leagues, probably influencing young children who want to go into the line of work later in life, much like Jack Buck did for him.

Interestingly, he was able to meet Buck a number of years back, who he listened to as a youngster in St. Louis. Perhaps two decades from now he’ll meet a young up and coming announcer trying to make his dreams come true, who listened to him while growing up in San Diego.

It would be a nice finish to what has already been a magical trip to the top of his profession.

Mark Neely resides in San Diego with his wife of 14 years, Christine, and their seven year old son, Trevor.

Neely can be seen on Cox Channel 4 in San Diego, and some of his clips can be found on mlb.com.

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41

Sports

TWO DAYS IN THE LIFE OF

ANDY LAMMERS 2009 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships Participant

Andy Lammers, Ohio Northern ’07, walks us through two days leading up to his participation in the pole vault during the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field meet.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20

6:45 am It’s the third day of finals week and I am exhausted from my three exams yesterday and two the day before. I had to get all of my exams moved around because I am leaving this morning for Marietta College to compete at the NCAA Track and Field Championships. I’m both excited and nervous for the next three days. I am ranked 14th coming into this competition and determined to finish in the top 10. I wake up and get my things together to get on the van for Marietta College and as I’m walking out of the house, many of my brothers are already up and wishing me luck. That eased the nerves for the time being.

Andy Lammers clears the bar during the competition at the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field meet.

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11:30 am

After a nearly four hour drive, we finally arrive at Marietta’s track for our practice session. We all get out of the van to stretch our legs and get our workout clothes on so that we can practice on the track we’re going to be competing on in less than 24 hours. I’ve dreamed about this day since I was a freshman and it was surreal to me that I had already achieved part of my goal as quickly as sophomore year.

I took down one of my warm-up poles from the van and made my way to the pole vault pit where I already saw some athletes warming up. On my way to the pit, a few coaches from my conference stopped me and talked to me for a little while, wishing me luck and saying that they were rooting for me. It was such a great feeling to know that the people who have been my rivals all year long were now cheering for me. That seemed to ease my nerves.

3:00 pm

We head to our hotel, which is across the Ohio River in West Virginia, and we get settled into our rooms and head to dinner. Since it was our pre-race dinner, we went out to a nice restaurant and had a good meal.

After dinner, we all went back to our hotel and did a fantasy draft of the athletes who were going to be competing throughout the weekend. Everyone on our team took part in this annual competition. We all had a list of the athletes competing and we took turns drafting them onto our teams just like fantasy football. Points are distributed based on how our draft picks finish in the competition and at the end of the weekend, the team with the most points wins. As we were picking teams, we were talking about some athletes we thought were going to cause an upset in the listings. As we were talking about that, Travis Althouse, one of my fraternity brothers who was also competing, picked me with his second pick in the draft.

It was a great feeling to know that everyone felt as though I had a great chance to do really well.

11:00 pm

I finally get to lie down in bed after a long day. So many emotions are running through my head, but the most dominant one is excitement. All of my hard work

had paid off and I had my chance to be an All-American pole vaulter, something I had dreamed about since I began vaulting in the 7th grade. I talk to my roommates for a little while about what tomorrow holds and fade off to sleep ready to wake up and go to work.

THURSDAY, MAY 21

9:00 am I wake up and can’t wait to get to the track and be around all of the excitement. We go out to eat as a team and then head over to Marietta. On our way to the track facility, everyone was very talkative because we were all so excited to be there.

11:00 am

We get to the stadium and I go up to the bleachers to watch the other competitions of the day, hoping to take my mind off of my nervousness. There were thousands of people in the stands already and it wasn’t even Noon. As the day dragged on, it got hotter and hotter. I had to go inside to wait for my warm up time because it was over 90 degrees outside, and coach wanted me to stay cool.

3:15 pm

I go to the warm up staging area, check in and begin my warm up routine. As I run through my drills, I see vaulters from around the country doing the same. I recognize some, but I am seeing many of them for the first time. My nervousness turns to excitement and readiness as we load the bus to head to the stadium.

3:45 pm

We arrive at the stadium 15 minutes before we’re supposed to start warming up on the runway to find out that high jump has run over and is still going. We are advised that we have to now wait for them to finish so that they can move the mats off of the pole vault area. Little did we know, we had to wait another 45 minutes before we could finally start warming up again. The heat is starting to get to everyone, including me, so I pop my umbrella and get some cold water.

4:30 pm

The runway in finally cleared and we are given time to warm up on the mats. The pole vault competition was supposed to start at 5 but now we are scheduled to start around 6:15. I notice that my legs are beginning to tire so I sit down for a while in the shade, drink some cold water and start up conversations with some of the other athletes. Sharing stories with them was so much fun and it helped keep my nerves from setting in.

6:15 pm The competition finally starts and I can’t wait to start jumping. My warm ups were feeling good so I was ready to go. As I stood on the runway, my nervousness

Lammers talks with his head coach Ryan New.

faded and I knew what I had to do. It was like I was moving in slow motion the first time I jumped off the ground and cleared my first height. Everything was perfect! I felt great, I looked great and most importantly, I was jumping great.

7:45 pm As the contest dragged on, I could feel the heat taking a toll on my body. I had warmed up too much and my legs were beginning to tire. I went and talked to my coach and he told me to do my best. He told me how proud he was of me and how much of an achievement it was to even be standing where I was. As I set up for my final jump, all I could do was pray that I cleared the bar. I was sitting at 9th place currently and I needed to clear this to be in the top 8 and make All-American. I jumped off the ground and at that moment I knew I wasn’t going to make the height.

On the long fall to the mat, I thanked God for the opportunity he had given me and prayed that he would give me another chance in the future.

Although I didn’t make All-American, my family, friends, and coaches were very proud of me as I was proud of myself.

I told myself that if given the chance again, I won’t miss it by one place. I have been training hard this off season and I hope that I get to go back to Nationals so that I can better my 9th place finish.

Andy Lammers finished 9th in the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Meet in the pole vault, clearing a height of 15 feet 7.25 inches. In addition to his track and field participation, Lammers serves the Alpha Eta Chapter as Recruitment Chairman.

FALL 2009

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Tech Trends

What If...

Your ISP Could Offer a SECURE Internet Connection?

How much would you pay for it?

By Brent Rowe, NC State ’99

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The total cost of cyber security breaches and associated losses is estimated to be over $1 trillion every year. This includes a variety of attacks and breaches, including ID theft, theft of company information, and attacks aimed at slowing or shutting down a company’s public web site or internal network. Over $100 billion is spent every year on cyber security products and services, with consumers spending approximately $8 billion for home security software, hardware, and subscriptions. And still, the total cost of security prevention and losses continues to increase each year as the Internet becomes more entrenched in our daily lives.

You yourself may have been the victim of identity theft.

Or your computer may currently be used to wage attacks on other computers. Remember that web site you went to that looked a little strange? It could have been a phishing site which automatically downloaded software on your computer so that a cyber criminal can now send e-mail or other Internet traffic from your computer, thus helping to hide their location and identify. Even if the hacker doesn’t steal any of your information, your computer performance could be much slower, and one day an FBI agent might come knocking on your door asking why you’ve been sending out so much spam (side note: an FBI agent was knocking on my door recently, but for more benign purposes.). Either way, you’re losing time or money.

What if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) was able to offer you more security? The technology exists for ISPs, both cable and DSL-based services, to conduct a variety of scans on the networks they manage and detect malicious activity.

They could also provide antivirus software at a lower cost than you probably pay currently. And if they detect that you may have been “compromised,” they could let you know and help you clean up your computer. More generally, ISPs are in a place to provide better security to home Internet users for a much lower per customer cost than is currently being spent on software fees, security subscription fees, losses from fraud, etc. ISPs, however, are hesitant.

Legal concerns top their list. Although ISPs can scan traffic across their networks and look for general patterns without “looking inside” your traffic, identifying malicious home Internet users’ traffic would likely cause some consumers to raise privacy concerns. Further, ISPs fear that once they state “we are now working to secure your connection”, even if they say that they cannot provide perfect protection, they will be sued any time one of their customers is successfully attacked.

Possibly more importantly, ISPs are not convinced that they could make money by offering new services, which would be very costly to implement. They worry that businesses and consumers, like you, would not be willing to pay enough to justify their investment. Past research has shown that home users are often completely unaware that their computers have been breached, and as such, they are often not willing to pay much to secure their computers. The result is that there are literally tens of millions of hijacked U.S. computers, called “bots,” that are used by hackers to send spam and attack other home users or companies. So, not only might a hacker be stealing your information and slowing down your computer, they might also be attacking others from your computer.

So, now that you know that you’re probably insecure and that your computer is probably being used to attack other folks like me, how much would you be willing to pay your ISP to essentially guarantee your security? Would you pay $10 per month? Maybe even $15?

The Institute of Homeland Security Solutions recently provided me with funding to study this issue. I’m trying to estimate out how much home Internet users would be willing to pay ISPs to increase their security, and what types of security solutions and marketing strategies most interest customers. I’m also studying how much it will cost ISPs to provide various types of security. Are certain solutions more cost effective than others?

As part of this study, we’re conducting interviews with ISPs, and developing a survey to help consumers estimate the value they would put on additional security, as well as what educational and marketing campaigns might provide consumers with the necessary information to make the most cost effective decision.

And then comes the tricky part. If consumers and businesses are not willing to pay enough to cover the costs that ISPs would have to incur, should the government step in to force them to do so? Or should the government help subsidize ISPs’ investments and security activities so that all Internet users are more secure? These questions remain unanswered.

Brent Rowe is an Economist at RTI International. He recently co-authored a book entitled Cyber Security: Economic Strategies and Public Policy Alternatives that is being used in a variety of university technology policy courses.

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Tech Trends

TIPS TO DEVELOP A GREAT WEB SITE FOR YOUR CHAPTER OR BUSINESS

By KJ Turner, Stephen F. Austin ’83

HEY BUDDY, GOT A WEB SITE? You’ve probably never had someone sidle up to you on the street and ask this question, but it might be kind of interesting if it were to happen. What would you say to the guy? Do you have a web site?

Does your business have a site? How about your chapter? If yes, can it be improved?

Is it everything that you need for it to be? And if no, why not? What’s stopping you from representing your business or your chapter on the web in a decent manner?

There are many ways for everyone to have a decent web presence these days.

Tools like Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla allow for easy content creation and management.

Image editing programs like GIMP, Picnik and Photoshop Express allow for image creation and manipulation without a large investment.

Web site hosting can be had for as little as $4-5 a month through GoDaddy or OneandOne, and most larger companies now have at least decent customer service that will help you through nearly any issue. They won’t build your site for you, but if you break something or just can’t figure out why something isn’t working, they’ll generally help you.

Below, we’ll explore some tips about how you can use some of the options already mentioned to make your site the best that it can be.

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KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE AND DESIGN FOR THEM Who is your audience? If you’re designing a site for your Fraternity chapter, then it’s probably going to be much different than one you would design for your business selling hardware. The audience is much different and you have to present the content in a way that they’re going to find pleasurable and meaningful.

Java script is great and Flash can be very cool. Not to knock either, because both applications are useful and can help provide rich content to your site, however Flash and Java script also require the latest browsers, memory, upgraded operating system, or really some combination of all of the above to work properly.

Remember that not everyone has the latest browser updates, the screaming laptop that you have, nor do they want to have to purchase the same to view your site. Just make your site work, and work well, with multiple browsers and even different versions of the popular browsers.

Remember that what works well in Internet Explorer 8 may not work at all in Internet Explorer 6. Test it. Then test it again.

Once you’re sure your site works, think about the set up.

If you have a brick and mortar store, do you hide your sale items in another room that requires people to go through several other rooms to get through? If you’re designing a site for your Fraternity chapter, do you want people to have to work to find a history of your chapter? Would you hide your history behind a wall that people have to crawl over to get it? Probably not.

In your store you’ll make sure that your sale items are clearly marked so that there are absolutely no questions as to what’s on sale. If you’re creating a site for your chapter, you’ll want people to be able to easily and readily find the history of your chapter.

Don’t make your audience work too hard. They’ll thank you for it.

MAKE YOUR HOME PAGE IDIOT PROOF Spinning globes are cool in the library, and hard to decipher navigation is wonderful if you’re creating a puzzle for the local chapter of your explorer’s club. Unless you really are creating a page for your explorer’s club, then make your home pages and the interior pages easy to read and easy to navigate through.

Your home page should show as much content as you can place on it, while still keeping it clean and sectioned. Your reader is there for information on you, your business or your Chapter. Give it to them.

Make your navigation clearly marked and easy to understand. Don’t label the sections of your site in lingo that only you and your friends might understand. If you’re creating a site for your business, don’t create a navigation system that is industry only. If someone finds your site, make them welcome and help them get around.

Create a clearly marked section on your home page that either provides contact information for you and/or your organization, or a direct link to an interior page where contact information is clearly marked. If someone is at your site, they’re probably there for a specific reason and may very well want to talk to you or visit your company.

TEST YOUR SITE AT YOUR GRANDMA’S When you get done with your site, test it. Test it again and then test it one more time. Go to your grandma’s house, your mom’s house, or anyone who isn’t the site designer that you are. Make sure that they can get around easily, find information easily, and can get back to the home page without crying. If they can navigate easily and without asking for a map from the guy at the gas station, then you’re doing well.

MAKE YOUR NAVIGATION EASY TO GET THROUGH AND GUESS PROOF Creative and successful site design doesn’t mean that your site has to have navigation that is hidden, driven by weird images, or just plain silly. Mark your navigation clearly, create drop down menus for interior pages if needed, and make it easy for your reader to get around. You might also provide a secondary navigation area on either side of your site for easier navigation. Also, remember to put navigation to at least the major portions of your site at the bottom of each page.

Follow these basic tips, provide compelling constantly updated information, keep your site easy to get around, and your customers or readers will come back time and again.

KJ Turner is the Digital Director for Entercom Broadcasting in Mission, Kansas.

FALL 2009

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Travel & Tourism

THE ETIQUETTE OF FLYING – TIPS FOR YOUR NEXT TRIP

BY BRUCE HAMMOND, OHIO NORTHERN ’98

I have been lucky in my early career to have a few jobs in which I have been on the road and through airports about once per month, or even more often. As compared to some of our readers, that is nothing! They’re on the road weekly. For others, that is much more often than they travel, either for business or pleasure.

In my relatively frequent travels, specifically through airports, I have noticed a number of things that non-travelers and some experienced travelers do, that to say the least, annoy me. Some might just be personal pet peeves, but I am guessing that many of my fellow frequent travelers feel similarly.

So, I thought it might be fun to talk a little about travel etiquette, and provide you with tips about the appropriate things to do in certain situations you may find yourself in at the airport. I’ll be using some of the common mistakes non-travelers continue to make in my personal experience.

This story in no way is meant to call out any one particular person.

However, if you can see yourself in some of these situations that follow each of the tips, I hope you’ll think about this story the next time you travel! All of us regular travelers would appreciate it!

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #1 When you’re in line to get your boarding pass and check your luggage, step up to the next available

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kiosk/screen instead of waiting for the person behind the counter to call “Next person in line!!”

Being that this is the first thing that happens most times when people get to the airport, it can be a frustrating beginning to people’s trips if they have to wait behind people that don’t understand this simple concept. If there is a kiosk open for you to walk up and use, just do it as opposed to waiting for the people behind the counter. They are busy putting the luggage tags on other passengers’ luggage and checking their IDs, so waiting for them to call on you causes unnecessary delays.

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #2 When approaching security, be prepared when you make it to the x-ray belt.

So you’ve gotten your boarding pass and luggage claim ticket… Now it’s time for security. Since 9/11, everyone now must remove their shoes, have their liquids in less than 3 oz bottles and in no bigger than a quart sized bag, and remove computers from their bags to go through the x-ray machine separately. You can have all of this ready BEFORE you get to the belt with a little planning.

Before getting into line, I remove everything from my pockets and put them in my computer bag, untie my shoes, unzip the compartment in my computer bag where my computer resides, and remove my jacket if I have one on. When I get up to the

x-ray machine, I have everything already prepared to go through the machine. Seems simple, right? By just putting a little planning in place before you get in line, you help the other passengers move through quicker.

One more thing relating to security… After your belongings come out the other end of the x-ray machine, don’t stand in everyone’s way putting your shoes back on, etc.

Take your things to one of the nearby seats that are at every airport, and put your things back together there.

Again, you will be saving the other travelers from backups, helping everything move more smoothly.

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #3 If you receive a cell phone call after you make it to your gate, kindly take it in a less congested area (or talk softer!)

We’ve all been there… We’re sitting in the airport, and the guy next to us picks up a cell phone call.

Instead of retreating to a less congested area of the airport, he proceeds to practically yell into his phone about his upcoming surgery, his mother’s health problems, and his recent partying escapades. Don’t be that guy!!!

If your phone happens to ring while you’re at your gate and you need to take the call, you should head to a less congested part of the gate area or into the main walkway of the terminal so as not to disturb your fellow travelers. Believe me, no one sitting at the

gate wants to hear all the personal items about your life or the deals you’re making in your business.

Oh yeah, one other thing. Don’t sit in the gate area trying to decide on a new ringer for your phone. No one at the gate wants to hear all of the different options for a ring tone that your phone has – especially all at one time as we’re waiting for our delayed flight to get off the ground. I’m not bitter…

I have just run into it far too often…

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #4 When getting on a plane, listen to the flight attendants and their instructions.

When they say put the smaller carry on underneath the seat in front of you, that means that your computer bag, coat, or whatever the smallest thing you’re carrying on should go there to save room in the overhead bins for the other passengers. With overhead bins being fuller these days, be courteous of your fellow travelers by using the space under the seat in front of you for your small stuff.

When the flight attendants say that it’s time to put away all electronic devices for the flight, don’t stay on

‘‘

the phone until they have to ask you personally two or three more times.

There are reasons why they don’t allow cell phone usage as the plane is moving out onto active runways, so by not putting your phone away when they ask, you are delaying everyone’s flight and quickly becoming everyone’s frustration on the flight. (Thanks to fellow staff member Beau Hanger for this specific tip!)

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #5 When the plane lands and you turn on your cell phone, wait until you are in the terminal before calling the people picking you up.

The people picking you up can wait five minutes until you get into the terminal to know that you have landed. One of the biggest frustrations for many people is when people next to them on the flight call someone while they’re still on the plane and don’t use their inside voice. They yell “We just landed!!! I’ll be down in a little bit!!!” Do us all a favor and wait the five minutes until you are in the terminal to make your call.

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #6 When you arrive at your destination, let the people in seats ahead of you get off before you (unless you are late for a connection).

Everyone is trying to get off the plane also, so there is no need to rush ahead of the people sitting in front of you to get off. By doing so, you are causing unnecessary backups for the people behind you. Just be a gentleman, and allow those in front of you to get off before you do. I know it sounds simple, but all too often, people are racing ahead to get off two people ahead of where they would have…

Now, an exception to this is if you have a close connection. For the most part, flight attendants will know that there are close connections on board,

We’ve all been there…

We’re sitting in the airport, and the

guy next to us picks up a cell phone call. Instead of retreating to a less congested area of the airport, he

proceeds to practically yell into his

phone about his upcoming surgery, his mother’s health problems, and his recent partying escapades.

Don’t be that guy!!!

and will say over the loud speaker “please allow those who have a connection to make get off before everyone else.” In some cases, you should let your flight attendant know that you are concerned that you’re going to miss your connection just to prime the pump and let them know you have a tight connection. They are then more likely to make the announcement.

Well, I’m sure these six travel tips are just the tip of the iceberg, so if you have any additional tips you’d like to share, let us know! Send me an e-mail at Hammond@deltasig.org to share your tips. We’ll follow up in the next issue with some of your travel tips.

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In Their Own Words

A DELTA SIG’S EXPERIENCE WITH

“THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD”

BY JUWEON JONATHAN KIM, TEXAS ’02

“The Best Job in the World” was a campaign launched by Tourism Queensland (TQ), the state tourism board in Queensland, Australia.

With their incredibly creative marketing strategy of using social networking sites and designing a campaign that would induce word-of-mouth frenzy across all media platforms, TQ officials were able to turn a $1.5 million advertising budget to generate over $100 million worth of publicity ACROSS the GLOBE, not to mention several international advertising awards, including the Cannes Lions Award which is equivalent to the Oscars of the industry. If you didn’t hear about this campaign, or at least know someone who talked, heard, applied or knew someone else who applied, then you were obviously living in a cave somewhere near the Pakistan-Afghan border. Wait, I take that back because even Osama Bin Laden applied for the job (you can find the video on Youtube under “Bin Laden Best Job” – I wouldn’t have minded losing to the creator of that video).

The campaign created such a buzz that over 34,600 60-second video applications came in from 200 countries causing numerous server crashes on the TQ web site.

After stumbling across the story in January while looking for stories to

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cover for my current events radio news program that I host in Seoul, South Korea, I bookmarked the web page and set a reminder alarm on my cell phone for the application deadline. I actually started my application video just two days before the deadline. The friends that saw my application video during its hasty production laughed and said it didn’t stand a chance. However, I thought as long as there is a chance, that’s all I needed and I didn’t want to regret later on for not even attempting to take that opportunity no matter what the probabilities were. The fact of the matter is; the chance of you winning the lottery goes up an infinite amount the moment you buy a ticket, and I spent 38 of the remaining 48 hours trying to pick the perfect combination of numbers on that sole lotto ticket.

In a matter of weeks, BOOM! I found myself in the preliminary top 50. After another hectic and whirlwind three weeks of all-nighters involving Internet blogging, video production, sorting through media interview requests from across the globe and running PR campaigns both in Korea and in Texas, all while keeping my day job as host of two radio programs in Seoul, I was selected into the final 16! SIXTEEN out of 34,600!

Juweon Kim overlooking the Pacific Ocean during his trip to Queensland, Australia for his interview.

The high that I felt when I got that phone call confirming my place in the final 16 was just absolutely… incredible, mind-blowing and numb… are some of the words that come to mind.

I felt chills running throughout my body and I guess that’s how it feels when someone hits the $100 million jackpot at the Bellagio slots. On top of that, there were various “alignment of the stars” moments throughout my campaign that just worked out no matter the situation, starting with my application video dodging the server crashes on the TQ site. It was kind of like playing Texas Hold’em and every draw you went on, didn’t matter if it was an open-ender, a gut shot straight draw or a two-outter, if you saw the

river, BAM you hit it and that’s how I felt up to this point. The greatest omen in this entire process was the fact that I arrived in Australia for the interview on the morning of May 1st – the morning of my 26th birthday.

It was like how the San Antonio Spurs felt when Robert Horry hit that game winning 3-pointer in Detroit in game 5 of the 2005 Finals. After that, you knew the Spurs were winning it.

At least I did.

But I guess I was celebrating too soon. If you don’t know already, I’m writing this column in my office in Seoul, which means I’m not on Hamilton Island with the Best Job in the World. If I had to do the entire interview process again, there might be a couple of things I would do differently, but not in the category of effort.

I poured everything I had out there, I just wish I had poured some of that effort in different places, but to get into the details of that would produce a novel, not a column. But even despite the “loss”, I still believe 100% that I came away from this experience with so much more than what I had before. Please allow me to explain…

I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience, having the opportunity to meet and make friends with some great people from all around the world while doing activities that I couldn’t even dream about doing.

Australia was one of the places that I had never been, but in just ten days, the country and its people succeeded in making me fall headover-heels in love with it. The country is just so vast (and I realize that I only explored a fraction of the continent) but the little part of Oz that I did see, was plenty enough to leave a lasting impression and make me want to go back.

I snorkeled in the world’s largest coral reef system, the Great Barrier Reef. I flew in a seaplane while riding in the copilot’s seat. I ate food pre-

Kim holding a koala during his 10day interview for The Best Job in the World.

pared by some the world’s best chefs, stayed in 5-star hotels, sailed on a luxury yacht, held koalas and fed kangaroos, and sand boarded on the world’s 3rd largest sand island.

Basically, I got treated like a superstar.

But the best part of this entire journey was the people I befriended and the life motivation that I garnered.

The 15 other candidates I met were absolutely amazing people, each of them bringing to the table something different and unique. In the end, a charismatic and energetic lad from England took the job that more than 34,000 people in the world were going after. Ben Southall is a class guy with an amazing life story to tell, and I’m sure his job as the “island caretaker” will be another chapter to his fascinating life. As for me, I think there is a different book to write.

Many people think I would have been depressed or disappointed at the result, but that wasn’t the case at all.

I didn’t feel like I “lost” a competition.

In fact, in some weird way, I felt like I still won. I felt like I was the successful applicant – I just didn’t have the “island caretaker” position. Coming out of this incredible journey, I have a newfound confidence and optimism about this world and what an individual can accomplish if we just put in the effort and belief that we can make

a difference. I will be the first one to admit that I was complacent for several years. I was satisfied with where I was career-wise, educationwise and lifestyle-wise, but my involvement in this process motivated me to always be aiming higher in life, because life is so much more fulfilling when you do.

So go out there and reach for something big and impossible, because you will be so much more satisfied even in “failure.” You want to know how my “failure” ended up? Well, for one, TQ offered me a 1-year contract to be their Tourism Ambassador in Korea, giving me a nice sum of cash to maintain a blog, help in running a couple of marketing campaigns and take two all-expenses-paid “business trips” back to Australia to promote Queensland. The massive media exposure I got through the whole experience upgraded my profile in the Korean media/broadcasting industry, opening up a lot of new doors for me. I will now be making a similar sum of cash as the Island Caretaker, although he will be making his cash in 6 months traveling around paradise, while I make mine in a year commuting in Seoul traffic.

But the thing that tips the scale in my favor? I’ll still be employed come 2010 while he’ll officially be out of a job in this economic environment come December 31st, 2009. (I have a feeling though that Ben will land somewhere on his feet as I did.)

YITBOS, Juweon Jonathan Kim AKA “Jon Kim,” Texas, ’02 2002 Beta Psi Pledge Class P.S. Come check out my web site for more in-depth coverage of my “Best Job” experience. Log on to www.juweonnago.com.

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Books By Brothers LIFE’S A SALES CALL

HAPPINESS IN 8 STEPS

By Jack Warkenthien, Illinois ’75 ISBN: 0975273722

By David Lindemann, Eastern Michigan ’61 ISBN: 0982054901

Do you have real relationship skills? Can you create an ever-expanding network and community of friends and clients that creates abundance for you in every way? When necessary, can you convert your relationships to revenue streams?

Welcome to the world’s oldest profession – sales! Ever since Eve sold the apple to Adam on that fateful day, the earth has been moved by compelling sales calls. It doesn’t even matter whether you’re selling a product, service, opinion, cause or anything else.

As Jack Warkenthien shares his own stories of developing relationships, you come to know him and yourself. Learn about the qualities of Respect, Enthusiasm, Listening and other characteristics of success in a humorous, precise writing style that leaves you inspired to create a living, breathing, human connection that is your key to a sale – every time!

BROTHERHOOD OF THE DIVINE

By Terry Fritts, Kansas State ’70 ISBN: 0979151491 For over two thousand years the Brotherhood of the Divine has protected a secret epistle written

by John of Patmos. An epistle containing a revelation so shocking that God demanded it not be written down in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 10).

Thousands have died as Satan has scoured the Earth over the centuries, gathering clues of its existence, hoping to discover the secret it holds and use it to ascend to power, and now, he thinks he is very close to succeeding in his quest.

Kevin Bridges, the miracle investigator for the Vatican has been very busy the past few months. Three miracle workers have suddenly become front page news thanks to Astan Ilves, the Lorenzo Medici of the modern era.

As signs of the Tribulations begin to appear, Satan and Kevin both race to unravel the mystery of the secret revelation of Apostle John as they battle for the souls of the miracle workers.

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An author, speaker, consultant and coach, David Lindemann, Eastern Michigan ’61, brings together some of the basic principles that have made him happy over the years into one place.

The eight steps, smile, thank you, giving, eating healthy, keeping your body in shape, being around people you love, making people happy, and laughter, all include personal stories of how these have helped David in his life, and include tips on how you can incorporate them into your life.

BIG BOY RULES: AMERICA’S MERCENARIES FIGHTING IN IRAQ

By Steve Fainaru, Missouri ’81 ISBN: 0306817438 From the book’s description ‘There are tens of thousands of them in Iraq. They work for companies with exotic and ominous-sounding names like Crescent Security Group, Triple Canopy, and Blackwater Worldwide. They travel in convoys of multicolored pickups fortified with make-shift armor, beltfed machine guns, frag grenades, and even shoulder-fired missiles. They protect everything from the U.S. ambassador and American generals to shipments of Frappuccino bound for Baghdad’s Green Zone. They kill Iraqis and Iraqis kill them. And the only law they recognize is Big Boy Rules.’

This book is written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steve Fainaru, Missouri ’81, who is a foreign correspondent for the Washington Post. Read it to learn more about the private security contractors who were a part of the Iraq War.

THE TRADITION CONTINUES: SPARTAN FOOTBALL

By Constantine Demos, Michigan State ’64 ISBN: 0306817438 The Tradition Continues – Spartan Football is a dream come true for Spartan fans. With its foreword written by George Blaha and comments by Tom Izzo, this Limited Edition Classic Illustrated Spartan football history book contains over 124 years of football highlights documented with 1,970 illustrations.

This one-of-a-kind full color book is bound in a Spartan green leather-like cover with stamped foil letters and a colorful dust jacket. It contains numerous items Spartan fans have never before seen.

Many former players have recollected their experiences while taking the historical and traditional “Walk” from Kellogg Center to Spartan Stadium. The book also shows the transformation from the old to the new as Spartan traditions have evolved. It even includes past game programs dating back to 1908 along with highlights of MSU’s greatest rivalries as well as every bowl team, championship team, and team photo and roster from 1884 to the present.

THE SOUL DIES SLOWLY

By Gary Ramsey, Western Carolina ’62 ISBN: 1615463437 Gerry Stewart is informed that he has terminal colon cancer. Not wanting his friends and family to see him waste away, he goes to New York City to commit suicide.

While there he meets a girl and finds a strange, almost magical object. The events that follow make him question whether suicide is the answer.

Before his terminal illness was diagnosed, he was the primary expert on “The Bloodletter.” This serial killer is a split personality psychopath whose mark is that he extracts as much blood as possible from his female victims. This story contains mystery, romance, political maneuvering, and personal agony over the fact that one of the victims of the “Bloodletter” was Gerry’s wife.

Be a Part of The Carnation Have you written a book that The Carnation should include in a future Books by Brothers

ROUTE 66 RAILWAY

By Elrond Lawrence, CSU San Bernardino ’85 For more than 80 years, Route 66 and the Santa Fe Railway have been constant companions through California, Arizona, and New Mexico. A new coffee-table book is the first to explore their relationship through cities, deserts, forests, and onceforgotten towns.

The 176-page hardcover is by award-winning photographer and writer Elrond Lawrence, CSU San Bernardino ‘85.

His vibrant color images and essays are the heart of the book, taking readers to a land where modern and vintage trains trade glances with neon cafes, tourist traps, motor courts, railroad depots, and more. Enhancing the book are historic photos and an engaging text that charts the beginnings of both railroad and highway, and examines their rise, decline and rebirth.

section? Or, do you know of a book written by a fellow Delta Sig that we should include?

If so, contact editor Bruce Hammond either by e-mail at Hammond@deltasig.org, or by phone at (317) 634-1899 x425.

Please include the name of the book, as well as the author’s name and contact information.

Contribute to The Carnation, and get some great publicity for your work today!

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bond eternal

Answers to Fraternity Confidential Questions 1. Fiction… While there are many brothers with the name Mike and have a D initial, this rumor is false

NAME

CHAPTER

JOIN DATE

William D. Huttinger

EPSILON

2/11/40

2/13/09

Robert Watkins Potter II

LAMBDA

3/25/73

3/27/09 12/15/08

Charles E. Baker

NU

3/22/52

OMICRON

4/24/49

3/10/09

Henry H. Latham

RHO

5/5/33

2/10/09

Ralph W. Murray

SIGMA

5/6/5

12/21/09

William N. Vetter

SIGMA

8/10/47

5/5/09

TAU

4/4/55

9/9/09

UPSILON

12/6/48

5/7/09

OMEGA

1/7/62

5/1/09 5/4/09

Rex Finis Gregory Jr.

2. Fiction… The one-time governor of Kansas Mike Hayden, Kansas State ’64, former Alabama Governor Albert Brewer, Alabama ’48, former Virginia Governor Albert Harrison, Virginia ’25, and former Louisiana Governor Richard Leche, Tulane ’34 are Delta Sigma alumni 3. Fact… Horatio Fitch was the world record holder and prohibitive favorite to win the gold medal in the 400 meter dash at the1924 Paris Games.

However, he was beaten by Eric Liddell, which inspired the movie Chariots of Fire.

John Russell Deer Ormond L. Hampton Jr. Ralph Joseph Cappy William G. Yedlicka

OMEGA

1/7/49

Michael Scott King

ALPHA ALPHA

1/21/78

5/3/09

Warren Thomas Robinson

ALPHA ALPHA

2/28/48

7/20/09

Paul Lively Lovett Jr.

ALPHA GAMMA

11/15/57

5/1/09

Parks Winfield Pratt Jr.

ALPHA GAMMA

12/10/55

6/19/09

Jack R. Schuster

ALPHA ETA

10/2/49

3/1/09

Floyd A. Banker

ALPHA IOTA

3/2/52

8/1/09

Allan B. Currie

ALPHA PI

1/14/57

5/30/09

Fred Joseph Somes Jr. William Henry Hansbarger II Richard W. Plymale

4. Although it would be great for the staff member who got to visit them, the answer is Fiction… Delta Sigma Phi has never been represented in Hawaii.

Mauritius Arnoldus Meyer

6. Fiction… Actually, three current members of the US House of Representatives are members of Delta Sigma Phi. They are Bob Inglis, Duke ’79, Todd Tiahrt, South Dakota School of Mines ’70, and Mike Turner, Ohio Northern ’79.

7. Fact… The Alpha Tau Chapter actually chartered nearly a full two years prior to the Alpha Alpha Chapter on June 15, 1917.

ALPHA PI

2/2/41

3/3/09

ALPHA SIGMA

1/21/43

5/17/09

ALPHA TAU

2/23/58

5/13/09

ALPHA UPSILON

11/14/08

11/17/08

Alfred Phillip Thode

ALPHA CHI

3/26/60

7/6/09

Gary Lawrence Fink

BETA ALPHA

4/23/61

8/8/09

Kenneth F. Pelletier

BETA ALPHA

2/17/52

3/17/09

BETA BETA

1/27/80

4/10/09

Wilmont Eckhout

BETA EPSILON

10/16/48

6/2/09

Milton Eugene Ellis

BETA EPSILON

4/20/52

7/17/09

Mark F. Rice

BETA MU

10/13/41

1/1/09

Robert L. Dahlgren

BETA NU

12/17/48

6/18/09

Michael Frederic Leadlove

5. Fiction – we think… While there are many unexplained noises at the Taggart Mansion on a daily basis that some people attribute to Lucy, there is no evidence that she actually haunts the building.

Jayme Nmi Avaiusini

BETA PI

6/6/48

12/15/08

Leonard G. Hess

BETA RHO

5/20/51

12/13/08

Dennis Alan Christy

BETA PSI

6/5/58

3/20/09

Ray Allen Taylor

BETA PSI

2/20/60

2/12/09

Frank R. Culhane

BETA OMEGA

11/14/48

5/8/09

GAMMA ALPHA

1/31/49

7/4/09

Kenneth M. Brewer

GAMMA DELTA

2/19/83

5/1/09

Troy Ramsey Duncan

GAMMA DELTA

3/1/90

4/3/09

James H. Van Wagner

Michael Clinton Bushell

GAMMA IOTA

11/14/96

5/1/09

Karl Mueller

GAMMA LAMBDA

5/19/50

5/2/09

Charles Leonard Summers

GAMMA UPSILON

1/29/73

7/10/09

Kenneth Henry Token

GAMMA PHI

12/2/56

7/11/09

Richard D. Staton

GAMMA CHI

5/27/62

4/6/09

Lynn Allen Schriner

DELTA BETA

9/6/59

5/18/09

Joseph A. Gonzales

EPSILON PI

11/24/68

5/1/09

Keith Woods Nicholson

ZETA BETA

4/16/72

3/20/09

Jacob Blackburn Edfeldt

THETA PSI

11/19/06

6/14/09

Due to incomplete information, deceased dates may not be exact.

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DECEASED DATE

i spy D ELTA SIGMA PHI i spy DELTA SIGMA PHI is a new feature where Delta Sigs, or Delta Sigma Phi’s letters, are found in interesting and unique places. Have you taken the flag to the top of a mountain, worn your letters in a foreign country, or done something unique with fellow brothers? If so, send us the photo and we will include the best of them in this section each issue.

Photos submitted must be at least 300 DPI (taken on the highest resolution of the digital camera you utilize and NOT on a camera phone), and should be e-mailed to Hammond@deltasig.org with an explanation and a proposed caption. We look forward to sharing more photos like the ones on this page in future issues!

Photo provided by Bob Kennel Delta Sigs from the Rho Chapter at NC State pose with Arnold Palmer, the golf course’s designer, on the 15th hole of the new Lonnie Poole Golf Course on the NC State Centennial Campus. Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity named the 15th hole by having some 20 undergraduates and alumni donate money to become “Charter Partners.”

Photo provided by Adam Littrell

Photo provided by Shy Scheihagen

Matt Elmore, Transylvania ’09, and Thomas Baker, Transylvania ’07, created a Sphinx with the Delta Sig letters during a May 2009 layover at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. The brothers were waiting to fly to Italy for a Choir trip with the University Choir.

David “Shy” Scheihagen, Texas ’73, wears his letters in front of the Sphinx and Pyramids in Egypt during a trip he took recently.

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CARNATION THE

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE

OF DELTA SIGMA PHI

PAID

1331 N. Delaware Street Indianapolis, IN 46202

GREENFIELD , OH PERMIT #286

SHOULD THIS MAGAZINE BE DELIVERED TO A DIFFERENT ADDRESS? UPDATE THE ADDRESS AT WWW.DELTASIG.ORG OR CALL 317-634-1899

It’s Easy to Connect with Delta Sigma Phi and Your Brothers

Facebook Fan Page (Over 5,000 members) Go to www.facebook.com and search “Delta Sigma Phi”

LinkedIn Group (Over 2,350 members) http://www.linkedin.com/ groupRegistration?gid=51050

Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/ DeltaSigmaPhiHQ

Find all of these ways to connect on the Fraternity’s web site at www.deltasig.org/connect.